


Using all the Pieces

by AcrazedSymbol



Series: Lights in the Shadows [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Fights, Headcanon greater than Canon at times, Humor, Intrigue, Lots of OCs - Freeform, Multi, Slice of Life, Some angst, Worldbuilding, kinda of au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2020-03-05
Packaged: 2020-03-17 14:12:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 29,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18966856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AcrazedSymbol/pseuds/AcrazedSymbol
Summary: Ozpin had 12 chess pieces to use, why not let him use them all. After all, it is easier to spark a fire with multiple sources.





	1. Liar, Survivor, and Failure

**Author's Note:**

> Hello readers, first time posting here and with an idea I've been working on since the start of RWBY, though to be fair I've only recently started working out how to write this project. Be warned it's my first attempt at fanfiction so hope you'll enjoy it. Quick note Italics = thoughts.

**“ATTENTION JAUNE ARC THIS IS THE FINAL BOARDING CALL FOR FLIGHT A1337 TO THE CITY OF VALE, PLEASE PROCEED TO GATE 5 IMMEDIATELY. FINAL CHECKS ARE BEING COMPLETED AND THE BORDERING PASSAGE WILL BE CLOSED IN TEN MINUTES. ATTENTION JAUNE ARC THIS IS THE FINAL BOARDING CALL FOR FLIGHT A1337.”**

As the intercoms of the skyport blasted this message throughout the terminal, the person in question scrambled through the crowds that occupied the skyport’s terminal. Eventually finding his way to Gate 5, Jaune slammed his ticket down onto the check-in desk. There the service agent at the desk gave him a quick smile and returned his boarding pass after inspecting it. He then hustled down the boarding ramp, adjusting his baggage strap over his left spaulder, smiled at the flight attendant holding the door for him, and quickly entered the airship. Squeezing his way through the cramped passageways, he looked for a place to store his bag. Finding an empty overhead compartment, he slung his carry-on into it and shut it tight. Pausing for a moment to catch his breath, Jaune then slid into one of the open seats and attempted to get comfortable for the coming flight. Too soon though, the crackling of the airship’s speakers announced the airship’s departure. Jaune gripped the armrests of his seat as the vibrations of the ship’s ascent slowly cause his stomach to knot in on itself.

 _Okay you’ve got this Jaune, it's just seven days and there’s a stop on the way,_ he thought to himself, attempting to hold down the queasiness in his gut. Feeling the queasiness inside him mounting, Jaune exited his seat in search of the closest restroom. Unfortunately, just as he spotted the restroom sign, nausea in his gut took matters in its own hands, leaving Jaune only seconds to act. Spotting a nearby trash can, he dove for it and vomited into it, oblivious of his surroundings. Taking a minute to recollect himself, he finally noticed the shadow being cast over him. Turning his head toward the shadow’s source, he saw a dark-haired girl, with red jeans and a golden jacket, staring back at him with a look of disgust. Brain still running on autopilot, Jaune did the only thing he could.

“Hi,” he said, as he attempted to hide his previous discomfort behind a smile.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 _Well, today’s been crap_ , Claret mused in her mind, absently crumbling her nutri-bar’s wrapping in her hand, mind still wandering from the hectic day. Add to that her trip down memory lane and she was ready to find a place to kick back and relax. Fate, however, had other ideas, as an armored blur dashed in front of her, gripped a nearby trash can, and vomited into it. Stunned, Claret merely looks on in disgust as the boy finished, noticed her shadow, and acknowledged her presences.

“Hi,” the boy muttered weakly as Claret’s eyes bored into his face, still attempting to register what just happened, so her brain went for an automatic response.

“Sup,” she replied only for an awkward silence to fill the space between them, as the blondie collected himself and Claret thought about excusing herself.

“Well the name’s Jaune Arc; short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it.” The now smiling Jaune stated, apparently already recovered from his earlier incident. Claret took a hesitant step back from the exuberant boy, eyeing his posture and letting her distaste settle on her face.

“If any lady said that, it was either for the irony or the fact you look like a child who just managed to put a peg in the right hole,” she remarked, smirking as Jaune’s face went from smiling to shock in an instant.

“No, it’s not,” he cried indignantly, “I’ll have you know several ladies say it's nice without pity.”

“What like two,” she quipped, her grin turning malicious.

“Five actually,” Jaune retorted proudly, a smile returning to his face as he apparently disproved her criticism.

“And how many of those weren’t related to you,” she quipped back, her face now predatory.

“None,” Jaune answered confidently, though a few seconds later his smile slipped at the sound of Claret’s laughter. “Oh, come on, it's not that bad,” he continued, attempting to harden his face into a serious expression.

“It kinda is,” she remarked, “I mean it makes you sound like some wine-boy from the valley—”

“But I’m from the Merlo Valley!” Jaune declared, aggravation clear on his face.

“Bullshit,” she responded, point a finger at Jaune, “you don’t have the accent or the look.”

“Well I am, see,” Jaune stated as he pulled his scroll to show her a map of the valley. “Right here Merlo Valley Domremy Village Arc Mansion.”

“Your like right on the border of the valley puts your family’s only in the valley by geography and do you really want to associate yourself with them,” Claret continued arching her eyes.

“That’s not the point,” Jaune retorted

“Oh, for Oum’s sake, please don’t tell me this about some fragile male ego,” groaned Claret, facepalming as she shook her head.

“No, it’s the principle, I mean what if someone told you that you weren’t part of the . . . where are you from?” he asked as befuddlement crossed his face.

“In the Savage Forest,” Claret replied sternly, having pinned him with a glare.

“Oh, well ah I guess you wouldn’t mind not being part of that area of the Backwoods…” Jaune trailed off as he shrank his form.

“Yea, it would be great if I didn’t have to worry constantly that my home would be attacked by Grimm every day, not have to see your friends torn to pieces, and that every step could be your last!!!” she shouted towering over the cowering Jaune. For a moment silence stretched between the two, and Jaune swore his eyes caught a flicker of fire around her. However, when he blinked all he could see was the furious face of Claret right in front of him.

“I am really really sorry I insulted your home please don’t punch me in the face,” Jaune squeaked, as he stood up, hands in front of him prepared for an oncoming assault. For a brief moment, the thought of her fist slamming into his face graced her mind, but as she rationalized the conversation, she knew he never did actually know where she was from. So, she dropped her angry visage and leans back, giving Jaune some room to recollect himself.

“Ah don’t worry, just proved your point, people get touchy about where we come, Valley-Boy,” she stated looking pointedly at her companion.

“I’m going to regret that nickname, aren’t I?” Jaune asked, resignation on his face.

“Honestly I’m surprised that she didn’t hit you,” another voice stated, which caused both Jaune and Claret to flinch in surprise. As the pair turned toward the sources of the voice, the pair gaze on figure clothed in earthen browns, pale greens and completing the look a dirtied yellow cloak that covered the majority of the figure’s frame.

“A Yellow Monk, didn’t think you’ll travel toward the cities?” questioned Claret, “and it's rude to listen in on others conversations.”

“Eh sorry, but I could help myself, after all, I was trained to help those that may be experiencing…discomfort,” the figure stated, light embarrassment coloring their tone.

“Oh, so I was experiencing discomfort eh,” said Claret as she stepped toward the figure, hostility blazing in her golden eyes again, as the newcomer raised their hands in a placating manner.

“Please my most sincere apologies, I never really mastered the art of tactful conversation.” The individual said as they flipped the hood down revealing their face. “Terrin Umber, a pleasure to meet my fellow Beacon applicants,” he finished with a smile, hand outstretched in greeting. Claret stared at the outstretched hand but makes no move to take it.

“…So why is a Yellow Monk going to Beacon, aren’t you guys supposed to be like against violence?” Jaune asked, as in an attempted effort to diffuse the awkwardness that was in the air.

“Oh well, the simple answer is that I’m not an actual Yellow Monk, just a former pupil of one,” Terrin stated as he withdrew his hand. “My mentor did his best, but I see a Beowulf I punch a Beowulf, couldn’t really get the inner happiness part down when those monsters are around,” he continued, his hand having moved from his side to rub the back of his head as he grins sheepishly. Meanwhile Claret had somewhat mollified her glare, her face moving toward a more neutral tone.

“Wait you didn’t go to a combat school?” asked Jaune, “Don’t you have to go to combat school to be accepted into one of the hunter academies?” he continued, puzzlement evident on his face.

“Honestly all you really need is a good combat record and a recommendation from someone who may have close ties to one of the academies,” answered Claret, “after all, I only trained with the local militia at my village.”

“Oh, was your family members of the militia?” Jaune asked.

“Nah, my uncle was more of a smith than a fighter, not mention he was way too fond of his drink to stand at attention in the morning,” remarked Claret.

“While you, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy it.” Stated Terrin who grinned as well

“It was the one thing that kept me busy and entertained, and I wasn’t going to the pretty girl for everyone to swoon over either.” Claret continued; her grin having turned savage.

“Well, then what brought you to be a…hey you okay there?” Terrin asked his frame turned toward Jaune who had gone quiet since Claret’s discussion of her past experiences.

“Oh, yeah I’m fine,” Jaune said snapping his head back toward the two, both of whom were eying him doubtfully.

“You’re not going to throw-up, again are you?” Claret asked first, taking a preemptive step back from him.

“Hey, motion sickness is a lot more serious than most people think it is.” Jaune bit back, though his skin color did appear paler.

“It can also be nerves,” replied Terrin as he looked up and down Jaune, who flinched at the mention of nerves. However, before Jaune could bite back a retort Claret spoke first.

“Good to be nervous shows that you're aware your in for shit, and maybe actually learn something.” She finished appraising Jaune, who stood a little taller. “you’re still a moron though Valley-Boy,” she remarked which caused Jaune to slump back down. Terrin moved over and gave Jaune a sympathetic pat.

“Don’t worry I’m sure you’ll do just fine; besides you have the advantage of having proper combat training,” said Terrin, which earned him a slight grin from Jaune.

“Also means he hasn’t faced a lot of Grimm like we have Monk,” quipped Claret her face now sitting on a neutral expression.

“Ah, so I can assume I’m now a friend of yours…never got either of your names now did I?” Terrin asked, a bashful smile gracing his face.

“Acquaintance Monk, don’t look too much into it, and the name’s Claret with Valley-Boy being the wonderful Jaune Arc which apparently the ladies love.” She finished with a healthy dose of sarcasm coating every word. For a minute the silence of the room was deafening as Terrin processed the last sentence, and Jaune began to slump and hide his face.

“Well…I’m…sure someone may find it endearing…” Terrin trailed off as Jaune further slumped down.

“I’m just gonna…figure something else out.” Jaune remarked sullenly as he moved to detach himself from the trash can.

“Sure, I got a nice row couple sections back, no window seat sadly, but I feel like that’s not going to be an issue for you.” Terrin as he moved with the glum Arc, a pointed look thrown at Claret who shrugged in response. As the pair walked off Claret gazed after them for a moment before groaning.

“Ugh wait up, you idiots are just gonna make it worse,” she declared moving after them.

“How so?” questioned Terrin, eyebrow raised in curiosity.

“When was the last time you actually flirted with someone at all?” she asked pointedly and was rewarded with Terrin turning his head to the side, cheeks red. “Besides where else I’m I going to get quality entertainment on this boat.” She finished as she moved after the boys, ignoring their stuttering as they processed her words. _Well, there could be worse companions to start off with again_ she thought as her eye quickly glanced out the windows at the horizon toward the direction of her village. With a shake of her head, she turned back after the boys and looks forward to their attempts to fix Jaune’s introduction. _If that’s even possible_ her mind brought up, which brought a chuckle to her lips as she continued after the pair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you'll enjoyed the first chapter of this story, hopefully, I'll be able to get the next chapter up in an adequate amount of time, but no promises. See you'll next time.


	2. Independence vs Rejection

Weiss Schnee was not happy at all. In fact, one could say she was downright furious with her current predicament. She should have known her father would have done something like this, but hadn’t she already proved herself when she defeated the drone, he had sent against her to see if she was ready. Now she had to contend with the fact he shuffled her off on the standard flight that Atlas Academy had provided to the individuals that were being sent to Beacon. She knew the message he was attempting to send to her, that by leaving Atlas to go on this silly fantasy she would forever be roped in with these miscreants. Her mind boiled at the implication that she would be seen as one of these failures that the rest of individuals on this flight truly were.

See in Atlas everyone is a part of its structure or are removed. For some removal is quick and relatively seamless, for others, the process is more troublesome. Nowhere was this more apparent than its own Hunter program, where those that passed Atlas Academy’s rigors often became Special Operatives with the Atlas military. Thus, when individuals that have the necessary skills to attend the academy, but have certain issues attached to them a different approach is taken. So, Atlas approved their attendance to other institutions, as an official goodwill gift to the other kingdoms.  Of course, the real reason was to remove potential problems from becoming integrated into higher parts of the Atlas military. Along with this distrust from the top, the general populace tends to view these individuals as miscreants at best, to some being referred to as traitors at worst. Unsurprisingly then was that many of these exiles tend to never return, thus reinforcing their outcast status within Atlas. It was this perceived notion that her father was obviously banking on to cause her to reconsider what she had chosen. Unbeknownst to him however this was exactly what Weiss had planned on happening. After all a successful tenure at Beacon, still widely considered the premier Hunter Academy, and a triumphant return would herald her as not only a true Atlasian but her own Schnee.

Now while the Schnee heiress plotted her dominance of the future, another passenger of this flight was also fuming at their situation. Lava stared out the window and again cursed the Atlasian custom officials for having stored all of his bags below in the airship’s cargo hold. So, for the past six hours, he had nothing to do but sleep or watch the rolling waves of the sea below. Naturally, he was extremely bored and he continued to lament that he had nothing to fiddle with.

“One explosion and everyone thinks you’re a pyromaniac,” he groaned, as his head slammed against the back of the chair and stared at the dull grey ceiling. “I can’t do this,” he mumbled as he raised his head up and looked at the two individuals that sat in front of him. At the very front of the seated section, the Schnee heiress, surrounded by her vast amount of luggage which formed a veritable castle between her and the rest of the ship. A few rows behind her, seated on the other side of the cabin, clad in dull yellow armor with fur lining, a massive induvial gazed out the opposing window. Lava flicked his eyes between the two, attempting to decide which would be willing to speak to him without causing an issue.

“Crick”

In an instant, he had turned his head toward the new sound that echoed from behind. Looking through the dimly light aisle, he could barely make out the back of the small airship. As he scanned the darkened compartment, he at first saw nothing that could have generated the sound he heard.

“Vssh”

Whipping his head to the left, he caught sight of an ominous green glow that was emanating from one of the farthest rows of the compartment. He glanced once more toward the front in case any of the security officers were paying attention. Seeing none paying attention, he slid out of his seat and made his way toward the light.

“Though why you think going to the glowing light in the back is safer than the other two options, I will never understand myself,” he commented, as he continued his journey toward the light. Upon reaching the row just before the light source, he slid into it and peered down over the back to view the other passenger. For a brief moment, he is able to make out the darkened cloak that covered the majority of the person, and long dark hair that covered their head. However, before he could say anything the individual snapped their head up and his eyes were assaulted by the balefully green light from before. “AAGH!! Turning it off!” Lava screeched as he covered his eyes. The light dimmed, he was able to make out its source, an aged Cylos face mask with its distinct tri-rotational optic on the left that stared back at him. “So nice mask hasn’t seen an active Cylos in…well, I think the only Cylos I’ve seen is in history books,” he stated as he stared awkwardly into the normal eye on the mask’s right side. His companion tilled their head and started to make hand gestures, which Lava stared at for a while before he released what was happening. “Shit um you can read my lips, right?” he both said and attempted to sign as well.

“Yes,” came the response, signified by a simple upward thumb, which caused Lava to a sigh in relief.

 _Oh, good he uses military_ , he thought as he attempted to a response, “You prefer me to sign or speak?” he signed.

“Speech is fine,” the person signed back, and then cocked their head. “How good is your understanding?” they continued which caused Lava to wince.

“I’m okayish,” he answered “but I can wow—” before he could finish though the other person fished a card out and handed it to him. “Oh, um thanks Lavon Brant right I’m not pronouncing that wrong?” too which Lavon shook his head no. “Well, the name’s oh—” again Lava’s sentence was interrupted again by another card by Lavon. “You are Lava Burnell graduate of Mor Academy, with several accounts of government property damage! okay, asshole none of those accounts stuck and the only reason they blamed me is that …what are you writing now?” Lava questioned; a scowl having formed on his face during his rant. Lavon meanwhile had taken another card and scribbled something on it before he tossed it at Lava who grabbed it and read it. “Look behind me, what is one of the—OH SWEET OUM!!” he screamed as he turned around and came face to chest of the armored individual from the front.

“Oh, sorry about that didn’t realize you didn’t hear me, the name’s Limon, just wanted to get acquainted with my fellow rejects,” he finished a smile appearing on his face, though Lava’s face returned to a scowl.

 “Look I understand the impression but I’d like to think that I’m not being falsely punished for something that I supposedly did,” Lava retorted, but all he got was a hearty chuckle from Limon.

“Ah optimism not used to such ideas from city folk,” Limon said, “where did you get such spirit Boomtouch?”

“First off totally an unoriginal nickname, second off I’m a realist as…wait what do mean city folk?” Lava asked.

“That you’re are a folk and lived in a city, unless you're about to say you're from…what’s the term people use to describe the area outside the city, the area where you’ll have like villages but just a lot of them together?” Limon asked as he snapped his fingers in an attempt to figure out the word himself. However, before Lava could answer, another card was flung past him and slotted itself in between Limon’s armor plates. Limon gently pulled the card out and smiled as he read the note. “Ah yes suburbia, which I personally still renders someone a city folk, but yes I call you the—” Limon started again before Lava interrupted him.

“No means you’re not from a city, all settlements on Solitias are fortress cities of a type, so how can you not include yourself,” Lava slowed his speech as realization alighted in his eyes. “You’re from the Outskirt Wastes,” he stated softly as a predatory grin donned Limon’s face. Lava attempted to keep his composure as Limon stepped forward and bent down to look him in the eyes.

“So, city boy what stories have they told about us barbarians of the Wastes eh?” Limon asked, his face centimeters away from Lava’s own head. For a moment the silence was deafening as Limon’s blue eyes dared Lava’s orange ones to blink. Finally, Lava opened his mouth, which caused Limon to lean closer.

“That you have wonderful ice baths?” Lava squeaked questionably as he waited for Limon’s response. For a minute Limon is silent, one of his eyebrows raised as he digested Lava’s statement before he busted into laughter

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahehehehe, now that’s probably the funniest response I’ve ever gotten,” responded Limon, as he stepped back laughter spilling out of his mouth. Lava also let out a nervous chuckle but more importantly allowed himself to breathe again. “Well I guess now you know why I’m on this flight,” Limon finally said after he stopped laughing.

“But how, not doubting your skill, but your kind always tended to stay away from Atlas let alone the other kingdoms?” questioned Lava now interested in Limon’s tale.

“Well can’t really speak about the other tribes but mine is looking to integrate itself into Atlas, something spooked the druids and da decided that we might need a change,” stated Limon his eyes rolled at the mention of the druids. “Anyway, went into Aion Academy, pretty much busted anyone who tried to stop me and then applied for Atlas, and that’s when some committee found me to um independent for Atlas’s structure, so Beacon here I come,” he finished his distaste for the bureaucracy evident.

“Aren’t you worried about your uh tribe being able to integrate?” Lava asked concern laced through his voice.

“Oh don’t worry several of my cousins got jobs all around Atlas, not to mention one of my hunting buds got into the Academy itself, though I think that’s because whatever committee reviewed her thought she was easier to manage, ha they’re in for a rude surprise,” Limon responded his eyes glazed over in memory.

“How so?” Lava asked more concerned now for those at Atlas than Limon’s hunting partner.

“Well have you heard of an abyssal shark?” asked Limon

“Yeah six to ten-meter-long blind predators that hunt in the depths only know by washed-up corpses, those abyssal sharks,” responded Lava staring deadpanned at Limon. Limon blinked in surprise and smiled at him.

“Well they can get a bit past the ten meters mark, but yeah got the idea, anyway sometimes we go out and fish for these bastards and so one time it was just me and my gang out there on some frozen lake or river, anyway we are out there got our hooks in water and suddenly my bud Arange slips and gets pulled into the hole, so we’re first shocked that he just went down like that,” Limon snapped his fingers to illustrate the speed that his friend had disappeared into the water. “Anyway so Ulive dives in right after him and for the next five minutes the rest of us wait for the blood to begin to pool, then next we knew Arange burst from the surface, and we drag him out asking him about Ulive, but we shouldn’t have worried because bursting out of the ice came her and the biggest Abyssal Shark I’ve ever seen alive—”

“Wait you're telling me that when you were younger you actually witnessed two people go into freezing cold water, and not only survive but one managed to wrangle a creature known for its ability reside in the deepest parts of the ocean?” Lava asked disbelief written in his face as he attempted to figure out how this situation happened. However, his train of thought was soon interrupted by Limon’s laughter.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA, no no no, sorry had to see your reaction, that was Arange’s version,” responded Limon as he tried to stop laughing, eventually getting his laughter under control he continued. “So, what actually happened we pulled a good thirteen-meter shark out, and Arange went to pull the hook out, turns out the shark was still alive so it bites down on his hand and doesn’t let go. Now while the rest of us are laughing our asses off, Ulive goes over grasps the snout of the fish and casually rips off its head and that’s how it actually went down,” he finished, a wistful expression on his face as he went back to the past.

“Okay…” drawled Lava as he eyed Limon with apprehension, however, before either could react another card flew between them which Lava caught. Seeing it as one of Lavon’s introductory cards, he turned it over an read the message on the back. “Incoming from the front?” he read aloud, which prompted both him and Limon to gaze back through the aisle. There one of the guards was attempting to make his way toward their little gathering. Thankfully it seemed that his process was slowed by the luggage wall of the Schnee heiress.

“Hey what do you know the Gold-Blood has a use after all,” remarked Limon smirking at the stressed guard.

“Gold-Blood?” asked Lava, “where do your people get this?”

“Well, they're the richest so it runs in their—”

“KASISH”

Suddenly quietness reigned as an explosion roared through the compartment, as the boys were forced to cover their eyes as hardened ice particles came flying at them. As they recovered from the impromptu detonation, they saw the guard that had attempted to reach them encased in a column of ice in the aisleway. Soon Miss Schnee went off on the guard, leaving nothing untouched as she berated the poor man for not being careful and knowing which boxes held which dust crystals. For a moment Lava enjoyed listen to her rant on the guard, however, he noticed the other two had their eyes on him. As he scowled at their obvious accusation, so he turned and launched into his own rant.

“I haven’t even been near any of those cases, let alone touched them, just because I’m in the general vicinity of an explosion doesn’t mean I had some influence…” he continued on his tirade, aimed more at Limon who was laughing again, meanwhile Lavon had leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes.

 _It will most definitely be interesting at Beacon_ , he thought as he let sleep take him from the noises of the airship.


	3. More Chosen Ones

It was a stormy evening; black clouds covered the sky as rain drizzled from the sky. Thunder echoed in the distance as ground crews raced along skyport’s ramp, fighting the clock as the storm steadily increased its strength.

“We’re not gonna get out in time, are we?” asked a massive bison faunus asked, his horns easily showing all around his heritage. Though most people that passed by him stared hesitantly at the armor plates underneath his blue cloak.

“Probably not Yahto, though we still have about another forty minutes before we have to start boarding,” remarked his companion, an equally imposing woman with vibrant pink hair. “hey Roan how’s the rest of the group doing?” she asked the third member of the group, another well-built boy clad in red, except for his camo overcoat.

“Well the girls are snoozing, Sodiri is still doing tricks with his yo-yo, and I think Roshen just downloaded another book on his scroll,” he responded. Just then a bolt of lightning lit up the windows and the three groaned in unison.

“Well Pix looks like you were right,” Yahto said to the pink-haired girl as the sign outside the boarding ramp added another two hours to their delay.

“Alright well then I’m going to Sandwich Empire for some dinner,” Pix replied, “you’ll want something?” she asked to those awake.

“I’ll take a Bacon Baron,” Yahto responded as he turned away from the window and moved toward one of the empty seats in the waiting area.

“Just get me a standard Knight Pack, hey Sodrir, Roshen, Pix’s doing a food run, you guys want anything?” Roan asked the other two boys. Sodrir stopped his yo-yo routine, pushed his multi-colored hair out of his eyes and peered down the terminal’s hallway to view the diner’s menu.

“They still doing the Jester Wings?” he asked, to which he received a negative headshake from Pix. Groaning he puts a hand into one of his pockets, rummaged through them and pulled out a couple of liens. “Surprise me with what this gets me,” he stated before going back to his yo-yo routine. Pix looked at the money before shrugging and moved to the final awake member of the group.

“Yo Roshen, Roshen…ROSHEN!!” she yelled at the green-clad boy, who jerked up from his scroll in a panic.

“Uah! what is it Pix?” he asked, recovering from her impromptu invasion of his space by the pink haired girl.

“Food run at Sandwich Empire, flight delayed another two hours, want anything?” she rattled off, grinning at the flustered Roshen.

“I’ll take a Knight Pack,” he mumbled, before he returned to reading his scroll, though he didn’t get far before his personal space was invaded again.

“I heard something about a food run?” asked a female beaver faunus, her tail smacking her seat as she forced her face next to Roshen’s head. Roshen sighed as Pix let out a small chuckle at the antics of the other faunus of their group.

“Evening Teal, I’m making a Sandwich Empire run, you want something?” responded Pix, which caused Teal to shift her head up as she thought about what she wanted.

“Um, I’ll take…an um I’ll have a…” she trailed off as Roshen suddenly poked her shoulder. “What?!” she demanded as she glared at him.

“Wasn’t Mio using your shoulder as a pillow?” he asked as he eyed her accusingly.

“Yeah, what about it?” she asked, a hint of malice having entered her tone.

“Well, I was wondering what’s she using for support now that your shoulders aren’t holding her—”

“SMACK”

Three heads turned around and looked down at the final member of their little gathering now laid prone across the floor, surprisingly still asleep.

“Oh brothers,” mumbled Pix as she vaulted over the chairs and moved to get Mio off of the floor. Fortunately, the red-clad girl was unmoving as Pix easily lifted her back into her previous spot. “There, now if there are no more interruptions me and Teal are going to get the food. If Mio wakes up, send me a message if she wants anything, let’s go Teal.” Pix finished, not waiting for the others to respond she started to walk away.

“Hey wait for me!” screeched Teal, who chased after the larger girl. Roshen shook his head at Teal’s antics.

“Well I should have some peace and quiet now,” Roshin muttered flipping back to his scroll, he had just gotten to an interesting article on Atlas’s newest robots when he felt a shiver on the back of his neck. “Uuuh Mio what do you want…?” he trailed off, seeing the still sleeping form of her behind him. He turned his head to see if the others were staring at him. Seeing that the other boys were clustered closer toward the boarding ramp he merely shrugged and went back to his articles.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“You do know it’s weird to stare at people, right?” questioned a black-haired youth as he eyed his companion across from him, accusingly. His companion however merely continued to stare ahead with his neon green eyes glowing in the dim light. The youth sighed as his companion remained unresponsive to him, “We could go other there and talk to them Odran,” he again attempted to break his companion’s stare, dragging his name out in hopes to elicit a response. He grinned as Odran finally closed his eyes and let out an annoyed sigh.

“Irvine, I understand your reproach on the method, but one must be aware of all threats,” Odran stated, as he returned to staring at the other group.

“I’m just saying when you do your mystical shit you look like a creep,” remarked Irvine, a sly grin having formed on his face.

“For the last time it isn’t mystical, its simply allowing my aura to feel out others,” Odran forcefully stated.

“So, your feeling other people up without their permission?” asked Irvine as his smirk deepened, which caused Odran to groan into his hands.

“There is so much wrong with your statement, and I doubt you truly care for the specific details of what I’m actually doing, so I’m going to ignore you now,” Odran said, his irritation clear on his face. Disregarding Irvine’s laughter, he focused his aura outward again. As his pulsed his aura throughout the waiting area, he once again observed the various reactions. The majority showed no reaction, their auras not even flickering, a few noticed that something wasn’t the norm and kept looking for the sources of their discomfort. However, his scanning went unnoticed by everyone in his sight. Suddenly Odran noticed something else disrupted his auric pulses. Focusing his aura, he pushed against the disruption. The force pushed back, and soon he had to divert his entire focus on pushing against the disruption.

Irvine having watched his companion’s face slowly move from his normal creepy stare toward one of harden concentration and leaned in to check on him. He wondered if he should say something, when out of the gloom behind Odran a hooded figure appeared and grasped Odran’s shoulder, causing the boy to snap out of his trance. However, the figure’s tightening hand stopped any further movement. The figure then moved their head to gaze at Irvine, who gave a quick wave before he was silenced by the person’s chilling voice.

“Please inform your barbaric partner that if he so much as emits a wisp of his aura outside his skin, I’ll shove my weapon down his throat and fire ever single shell I have into his gut,” the low voice uttered, seething with contempt.

“Of course,” said Irvine, as he moved his head back to stare at Odran and repeated the statement to him, earning an angry glare from the boy.

“Irvine—” Odran growled only to be cut off as the figure applied more pressure on his shoulder.

“Now now be nice to your friend, after all, he did warn you about being creepy,” the figure responded.

“Thank you for your kind words…” Irvine trailed off; his right hand twirled in hopes of prompting a response.

“Eerie Than, and yes I’m also going to Beacon, so Irvine it will be a pleasure to at least meet someone with a sense of privacy, now good day,” Eerie stated as she let Odran go and stalked back to the corner where she apparently had sat before being disrupted by Odran’s observation. The boys merely watched as Eerie sat in a seat, pulled out a scroll and ignored the world around her. Finally, Odran turned back and resumed glaring at Irvine, who was chuckling at the incident.

“I’m going to assume you also didn’t notice this Eerie character before she assaulted me,” he spoke as irritation colored his voice.

“Well I did warn you,” chuckled Irvine, not even fazed by Odran’s baleful glare, “and now you’ve managed to piss off one of our fellow classmates,” he finished as he returned his own glare toward Odran. Odran huffed and fell back into his seat, closed his eyes and attempted to sleep. Irvine sensed that further conversation would be futile, so he also settled back. He briefly glanced at the spot which the girl Eerie had sat down at, and for a brief moment, they made eye contact. For a moment the two held a silent conversation before Eerie, with a slight grin, moved her eyes back to her scroll. Irvine shook his head and leaned back into his seat. _Well let’s hope Beacon has more people like her to keep the idiots in line_ , he mused as he joined his companion in slumber.


	4. Champion, Disgrace, and a Pair

High above the rolling waves of the Zhai Sea, a Mistralian airship cruised through the skies at a clipped pace. Its massive wings, infused with gravity dust, flapped in the noon sun while Passenger gulls flight in between the massive masts that stood upon the deck. Actual passengers clustered around the side-rails, in hopes of seeing Geommu whales in the midst of their courtship duels. However, not everyone was up on the top deck, within the ship’s interior a young silver-haired woman leaned against one of the ship’s support structures. Her blue eyes not focused on the water below but the distant horizon beyond.

 _Deep breaths Glaucia_ , said woman thought as her giddiness threatened to overflow. _Three more hours and you’ll be on Sanus, and then four simple years at Beacon_ , her mind continued as a grin formed on her face. Finally, she saw the light at the end of the tunnel, soon the beginning of her journey away from her family. After all, it wasn’t exactly like they were missing her back in Mistral. _They’re probably hoping I die in this venture_ , she thought as her earlier joy now soured as her mind was invaded by memories of her family’s attitude toward her. Her body ached at the sudden memory of her family, as the remainders of her early morning training session flared up. She winced in pain as one of the bruises on her back began to throb as her mind recalled it.

“Assholes always aim for the back,” she remarked and moved the rub out the pain.

“Are you okay?” a clear voice asked behind her.

“Nah I’m fine just have some bruises from training thanks thAHA!!” she screamed as she turned around and looked directly at Pyrrha fucking Nikos. Glaucia began to freak out, after all, it wasn’t every day you met the most promising huntress candidate face to face. Granted she had seen Pyrrha before, in action no less at the Sanctum Tournament. That was an experience she wouldn’t forget anytime soon. She had participated in the tournament as well, being Pantheon’s representative to the tourney. Unfortunately, she was knocked out in the quarterfinals and had to watch the last few fights instead of being able to fight Pyrrha herself. Unsurprisingly Pyrrha had all but obliterated the remaining competitors, with minimal effort on her part.

“Um are you okay?” asked Pyrrha, her head tilted a little with concern etched on her face.

“What? Oh yeah I’m fine I’m just a little surprised that you’re here, in front of me, in the flesh, Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl…I’m gonna need a minute,” Glaucia rambled, letting the wall of the observation room take her weight.

“Oh sorry,” started Pyrrha, but was waved off by Glaucia.

“No no, don’t apologize, I’m just in shock that I’m in the actual presence of the strongest huntress candidate in all of Mistral and probably the world and that I, the reject of the Brutus, am actually going to the same academy as Pyrrha Nikos, ha eat that father!” Glaucia shouted at the glass front, unaware of Pyrrha’s face forming a nervous smile. After a few minutes of crazed laughter, Glaucia turned around a readdressed Pyrrha. “Sorry about that just had a lot on my mind, anyway Glaucia Brutus at your service Miss Nikos.”

“Oh, please call my Pyrrha, no need to be formal between fellow huntresses, right?” said Pyrrha with an embarrassed blush on her face.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself Pyrrha,” Glaucia stated grinning at the red-head. Unfortunately, an awkward silence fell over the pair as neither knew how exactly to continue.

“So, are you whale watching as well, seems like what the majority of people are doing?” Pyrrha asked as she moved forward for a better view out the windows.

“Oh no more like horizon watching,” remarked Glaucia turning back to face the windows as well. “Honestly I can’t wait to arrive at Sanus myself, so much to see and do,” she continued smiling as she thought about her future.

“Wow you’re really looking forward to this aren’t you,” remarked Pyrrha a bit of a wistful look on her face.

“Yep, four years at Beacon and then I’m off into the wilderness, nothing to stop me then,” Glaucia continued, heedless of Pyrrha’s perplexed expression.

“You don’t plan on going back to Mistral?” Pyrrha questioned.

“Don’t really have anything to go back to, didn’t even get recognized as the legal heir for the estate,” Glaucia gripped, as she shook her head incredulously.

“Oh sorry,” apologized Pyrrha.

“Ah its nothing really, never saw eye to eye with them, blood relation certainly hasn’t stopped them from acknowledging me before,” huffed Glaucia, “anyway the worst they could do is try and send some idiot to try to take me back in marriage.” This statement caused Pyrrha to gasp, but Glaucia waved her concern off. “Eh don’t worry about, the only way for someone to do that is beat me in single combat, and that’s not going to happen since no one with skill wants to associate themselves with a disappointment like me,” she stated nonchalantly. Pyrrha meanwhile looked at her in stunned silence, which caused Glaucia to slightly panic. “Oh, they’re mostly fine with me going, really we just had a difference of opinion,” she started which garnered a pointed stare from Pyrrha.

“A difference of opinion led to you being happier away from your family,” stated Pyrrha pointedly staring at a bashful Glaucia.

“Well, it’s really not that big of a deal, needless to say, everyone is mostly satisfied with this arrangement heh…” Glaucia trailed off, trying to not look into Pyrrha’s eyes. “Anyway, you have a plan after Beacon?” she asked, causing Pyrrha to blink in surprise. The champion tilted her head back to looking out the windows, as she pondered for a minute what was her plan after Beacon.

“Don’t really have one, I’ll just let destiny take its course,” she said, to which Glaucia rolled her eyes in amusement.

“No offense Pyrrha, but I think your set if you keep following destiny, seems like it currently enjoys your success in life,” Glaucia prodded Pyrrha, who returned a smile.

“Would you like me to intercede with it on your behalf?” replied Pyrrha, to which Glaucia let out a burst of laughter.

“HAHAHA, oh please don’t, I’m not ready to take on ten different people on at once,” said Glaucia as she tried to control her mirth. Pyrrha first looked perplexed then ducked her head to the side, embarrassed of the mentioned incident.

“Oh, you saw that one…” she murmured, which caused Glaucia to let out another chuckle.

“Everyone saw that vid, pretty much cemented your reputation…well that and you constantly destroy everyone at all the tournaments you attended,” Glaucia stated grinning as Pyrrha tried to hide her blush.

“It wasn’t technically at once—” she tried to correct but Glaucia cuts in.

“Alright, its ten duels with about eight-minute breaks in between, that better now!” Glaucia raged a little, put off by Pyrrha’s indifference to her own feat. Silence again reigned between the two warriors.

“Sorry—” Pyrrha started, only to be stopped by Glaucia’s hand.

“Nope my fault I went off, you keep being you, even if its gonna frustrate me to no end…” Glaucia muttered before she turned back to the worried red-head. “Anyway, your humbleness aside you are the top huntress, and I’m like middle of the pack at best—”

“So, you didn’t graduate top of Pantheon’s class this year?” Pyrrha asked pointedly, stopping Glaucia’s rant.

“Well yes but—” Glaucia began before Pyrrha stopped her.

“And the same person who also nailed a Harpy over two thousand meters, and saved a child,” Pyrrha continued.

“Yes but—” Glaucia again tried to intercede.

“So why don’t we both acknowledge that we are bad at realizing our true accomplishments and try to do better,” finished Pyrrha, smiling at Glaucia’s astonished face. For a moment all Glaucia stood stunned at Pyrrha’s ability to turn her own argument against her.

“Well well a fighter with words as well as fists, you are something else Pyrrha,” Glaucia remarked, causing Pyrrha to duck her head to the side again.

“It’s nothing really, I just don’t care for it when people look down on themselves, and you are definitely one of the strongest fighters in Mistral,” said Pyrrha.

“Wow um thanks Pyrrha,” answered a stunned Glaucia, “that’s really kind of you, but I’m not really that skilled, hell most my fights end in ring-outs,” she finished slightly downcast.

“To be honest matched fights do a poor job of preparing people for actual combat with the Grimm, better to know how to gain distances than to charge in blindly,” Pyrrha continued on, sending a sympathetic glance toward Glaucia.

“Well good to know that I can at least get out of a fight,” grumbled Glaucia, though she sent a grin toward Pyrrha. “appreciate the pep-talk though, guess I’m still a little in shock about going to the same hunter academy as you,” she continued, and then seeing Pyrrha about to apologize, forestalled her with a question. “So why exactly are you going to Beacon? I mean I know it’s supposedly the best academy out of the four, but that’s very debatable by some at Haven,” she finished, eyeing Pyrrha expectantly.

“Oh well it’s a bit of that, wanting to see the rest of the world, and the interest of the headmaster himself—” she stopped as Glaucia let out another burst of laughter.

“Haha oh Pyrrha I’m pretty sure that all four of the academies’ heads wanted you to attend their school,” Glaucia remarked, “seriously I bet Master Lionheart at least visited your home three times a week.”

“He did visit once, but he never made any serious overtures, and only headmaster Ozpin continued to stay in touch with us,” Pyrrha answered, as she tilted her head in thought.

“Huh, well anyway how is this Ozpin character?” asked Glaucia now intrigued that Pyrrha might know more about Beacon’s reclusive headmaster.

“He’s very blunt with his speech, but sympathetic as well,” Pyrrha started, “he likes to be direct, and yet he gave off an air of elusiveness,” she finished confusion on her face as she attempted to best describe her discussions with Beacon’s enigmatic headmaster.

“Well, that’s interesting…” Glaucia trailed off. The pair continued to muse over the mystery that was Ozpin when suddenly the door to the room was flung open, startling them both. Standing in the doorway a small girl with orange hair, dressed in white and pink, determination brimming from her form.

“THIS ISNT THE KITCHEN,” the girl stated rather forcefully, before dashing back into the hallway at a frightening pace. For a moment both Pyrrha and Glaucia looked at each other perplexed at the sudden interruption when another person enters the room.

“Nora!! Oh, sorry you have happened to see an orange-hair girl, about this high,” the green dressed boy asked, his hand around his own chin. Glaucia pointed to the left, and the boy nodded his appreciation and left shouting after the errant girl.

“Okay that happened,” Glaucia started “is it lunchtime already—”

“Grrrrrrrrrr,”

Glaucia looked down at her gut sheepishly, before looking at Pyrrha who merely smiled.

“Want to go find the mess hall?” asked Pyrrha, to which Glaucia mutely nodded. The pair slowly walked out now focused on what they would have at the mess, the approaching shore and what it would bring.


	5. The Rich, Rough, and Raw

Vale’s eastern coasts held several settlements, some even reaching city status, but they all paled in comparison to Eastern Vale’s jewel, Verge. A massive spire of towers, constantly stacking upon each other toward the heavens. This was because the area lacked the natural defenses that kept the capital, Vale, secure and so the people of Verge instead built up until they had their own mountain home of metal and glass. Tour stared at the slowly shrinking city that had been his home and wondered if he would ever get to zip through the towering buildings.

“You know I’ve never really seen Verge from this high up, pits it’s amazing!” he stated, his face pressed against the glass. His eyes scanned over the tops of the various skyscrapers, some of which he had skated on or through during his routes. However, since he never was sent on any Cloud Top deliveries, he had rarely seen the entirety of Verge. Course now his mind wasn’t on his old job, but instead filled with wonder and joy at the prospect of his future.

“It’s just a bunch of metal, really the only impressive thing about it is that it's tall,” remarked Tour’s companion, a brown-haired youth with a red overcoat hanging from his shoulders.

“Ah come on Russy, where’s your sense of wonder?” quipped Tour, not taking his face off the glass as the airship slowly rose into the sky. Russet groaned in annoyance at the use of that particular nickname.

“I’m going to hurt you if you keep using that name,” he growled taking a menacing step toward the blond youth, who remained unfazed, though that probably had to do with him not seeing Russet’s angry visage. “Oh, come on you’ve lived here for all your life and this is the first time you’ve seen the top of the city itself?” Russet continued, peeved at the lack of acknowledgment from Tour.

“Well yeah, most of my deliveries were around Midpoint or Lowtown, never really had any hauls up to Cloud Top, and their rules on travel were way to strict for my sense of movement,” Tour responded, his voice slightly muffled by the glass. “Besides how can you not be impressed its literally a monument of humanity’s grit!” he continued on; voice filled with passion.

“Ha, more like a representation of people’s ability to hide amongst themselves,” remarked Russet, which earned him a gasp as Tour spun around, his morphed into a fusion of horror and disbelief.

“How how can you say that look at it it’s a marvel of engineering, a beacon of the human spirit, and—”

“Your friend isn’t too far from the truth though, Verge was built out of fear,” a smooth voice interrupted Tour’s outburst, which caused the two boys to turn toward it. Standing behind the pair was a girl who looked to be about their age, her rich brown skin contrasted against the vibrant green suit she wore. For a moment the silence stretched on, Tour’s mouth moved with no sound and Russet hid his own grin behind a hand. However, before either of them could properly respond she continued on. “Of course, over time it morphed into this metal pillar of solidarity, a symbol that anyone could get behind,” she paused as Russet let out a sarcastic cough.

“Yea emphasis on behind,” he snickered earning himself a glare from Tour and a bemused expression from the girl.

“Indeed, it may seem like most people came to Verge to hide, but then that’s mostly the coastal villages ignoring a simple truth,” she stated which earned her a glare from Russet.

“Oh, and please tell me what that simple truth is,” he growled as he took a menacing step toward her.

“That without Verge’s populace emotional influence causing the Grimm to either be attracted to the city or repulsed, those on the coast would be sandwiched between the two fronts of Grimm,” she stated her eyes matched his glare with humor. “Of course, that’s why a settlement like Riptyde is constantly on the edge, being just on the limit of Verge’s garrison response time, though I have to say I’m impressed they allowed you to leave,” she finished smirking at Russet’s surprised face as she dropped his village’s name on him.

“How do you—” Russet stopped himself as he spotted the symbol that adorned her the front pocket of her suit. A six leaved flower, colored pale purple with a red dot in the middle, revealing her affiliation. “Shiiiiiiiiiiit, you’re from Saffron Treats, aren’t you?” he asked an annoyed look forming on his face.

“Oh, I’m much more than simply being from Saffron,” she answered, her smirk turned predatory. “Miss Nasrin Saffain, a pleasure to meet you both,” Nasrin said, which earned her an exasperated groan from Russet and a confused look from Tour.

“Um…not to be a bother but that makes you what exactly?” Tour asked, which sparked another groan from Russet.

“She’s at least the second born of the Saffain family, the current owners of Saffron Treats, the third most successful business in regards to food,” Russet stated reluctantly.

“Second actually, Cabbage Corp is facing legal issues, and it’s not looking good for them,” Nasrin stated, her face having adopted a neutral expression.

“Well congratulations on moving up, you want a fucking cookie,” Russet announced, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “Not like you’ll need one anyway,” he finished storming away from the pair.

“Um…sorry but what just happened?” Tour asked, his head flipping between Russet’s retreating form and Nasrin. Nasrin sighed and went on to explain the issue.

“It’s complicated…while we try to maintain good relations with all villages we interact with, some of the more independent-minded ones tend to view us as competition,” Nasrin started. “Riptyde’s community being one of the more outspoken critics of larger corporations, often runs out anyone with too much allegiance to any of the international businesses, hell they don’t even buy from the SDC.”

“So how did you know—”

“That your friend was from Riptyde, his symbol, most Riptydians will have some shark iconography on them, and he had one on the back of his jacket,” she said as Tour nodded in understanding.

“Oh, well I’m Tour Maline, a—”

“Runner for Verge, I see the symbol for your old boss on one of your gloves,” said Nasrin, which prompted Tour to glance down at his glove to see the orange wheel of his old workplace on it.

“Well your very observant,” he stated with a chuckle.

“Comes from living with several jokers, my family seems to think that they are hilarious,” a deadpanned Nasrin said.

“Yeah some of my fellow runners thought they were the shizz at humor,” Tour responded, to which Nasrin only stared at him. “I mean they had a few good jokes here and there but man I think their best stuff is on our crash compilation,” he finished trying to dispel the awkwardness around himself.

“Crash compilation?” asked Nasrin, cocking an eyebrow at him.

“Oh, yea big thing for the runners, pretty much is someone messing up on their route, and likely crashing into several objects,” he stated as he pulled out his scroll.

“Sounds painful,” she remarked

“Oh, it is, here I think this was my last one before being accepted to Beacon,” Tour stated before he played the video on his scroll. As Nasrin looked at the video she saw Tour holding a package while dangling on a ledge, looking around for a way to jump. Suddenly a hoverboarder whizzed by snatched his package and took off. Tour took a second to realize what had happened, then yelled at the person taking a step forward. This, of course, took him off the edge, and in an almost cartoonish scene, he looked down and fell out of the camera’s view.

“Oh…” gasped Nasrin, unable to think of a proper response.

“Yea took me another two hours to find that bugger and get the package back, not to mention the time it took me to actually deliver it, pain in the ass that day was,” Tour remarked, “you want to see another one.” Nasrin’s mind wondered for a second, but eventually, she mutely nodded her head, slightly intrigued by what else Tour had done.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Russet continued on with his march away from the pair, his mind aflame in anger at the insinuations she had made about his hometown. _Arrogant bitch is gonna regret insulting home_ , his thoughts echoed through his head. So engrossed was his mind that he didn’t notice when his shoulder slammed into someone else. With a grunt, he attempted to move on but found his arm caught in a vice-like grip, and before he could voice his discontent, his assailant spoke in a harsh tone.

 “I’m sorry but who the hell do you think you are?” their voice filled with wrath, as Russet turned his head to glare back at them. His assailant was yet another girl, her coppery skin blended with her red-orange garments, and her snarled visage was framed by short dark purple hair. However, he was still furious and thus didn’t take long to admire her, instead he focused on ripping his arm away and letting his anger do the talking.

“I’m whoever I want to be bitch,” he stated, his voice exuded confidence that his brain was currently questioning as the girl snarled and cocked her other hand back to throw a punch. Instinctively he started to bring his free arm up to block the oncoming blow. Before they could actually come to blows, both were stopped by another pair of individuals.

“Raziya…”

“Wow buddy dial it back a bit okay,” two voices stated which caused Russet and the now named Raziya to look behind them. Russet turned his head, scowl still visible on his face, which he promptly dropped when he saw the look on the girl’s face, the thin smile and closed eyes on her bronzed face. The look was eerily similar to what his mother gave him when he fucked up, which prompted him to pause. Soon the rational parts of his mind took over and he relaxed his stance. “Thank you…you gonna stop your semblance?” the girl asked, her head tilted toward his raised arm, to where one of the metal plates had begun to extend. He quickly focused in on his aura and stopped his semblance, leaving it a jagged edge. With that taken care of, he let out a sigh and finally acknowledged just how exhausted he was.

“Probably should have taken a nap this flight,” he mumbled, to which the girl nodded her head.

“Yeah, so the name’s Edna Ochre, Low-Under res,” the now identified Edna said, who then tilted her head to look over his shoulder. “We should probably get moving though, doesn’t look like she’s about to calm down at all. Russet followed her gaze and saw his former assailant, Raziya, yelling at a bald boy.

“Should we help him?” he asked, wincing as Raziya continued her tirade against the other boy.

“Ah that Sinclair fellow seemed to know what’s he doing when he asked me to help defuse your guys’ argument,” responded Edna.

“Okay, he is aware of the crystal spike growing from her hand right though?” Russet questioned, taking a slight step back from the scene. Edna simply shrugged as she turned around to walk away.

“He said something about the being traveling companions,” sarcasm colored her voice, “so I’m not too worried yet.”

“Yet?” Russet asked turning to follow her.

“Well there’s still the initiation ceremony, not to mention everyone apparently gets a partner for the time we are there, so I’m hopeful that I don’t end up with her,” Edna finished. Russet nodded his agreement with her statement, though a sudden thought popped into his head.

“So, Edna just how many levels does Verge have, I mean Tour, a guy I met earlier, mention something like Cloudpoint and Midtown—”

“Frist off they’re Cloud Top and Midpoint, people are sensitive about that stuff and official there are seven layers in Verge; Cloud Top, Highcourse, High-Mid, Midpoint, Lowtown, Low-Under, and Underment,” she stated, annoyance coloring her tone, “though there are numerous other levels that exist, though most of them hardly counts as a level.”

“Oh, thanks,” Russet said, feeling slightly awkward at the silence that followed. For the next few minutes, he could feel the uneasiness grow, until a cough from Edna drew his attention. “What?” he asked when she gave him a pointed glare.

“Still haven’t gotten your name mister,” she stated, causing him to flinch.

“Oh sorry, it's Russet I’m from Riptyde—” he began when he felt something brush past his leg. Looking down he saw a small girl with long dark hair ending with green highlights. Before he could continue though Edna quickly spoke up.

“Check your pockets,”

“Wha—”

“Check your pockets, can never be too sure, especially with heapers,” Edna said as she glared at the retreating figure.

“Heapers?” questioned Russet, patting his pockets down.

“Verge’s unofficial eight level, bottom of the city mostly populated by gangs,” she quipped eyes not leaving the retreating figure. “Most keep to the Heap, but a few climb up and cause a ruckus in the upper levels,”

“Ah,” he remarked, a single thought going through his head. _Russet what have you gotten yourself into?_

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Ivalyn continued her worried dash through the passages of the airship, her eyes darting at every shadow.

“Got to find them, have to find them,” she mumbled, her mind filled with worry as she frantically searched for them.

“Hey, Iva over here!” a clear voice shouted, which caused Ivalyn to whip her head in the direction of the shout and saw a tall girl, bat ears flared out. Eyes widening in alarm, she sprinted over, grabbed her friend’s outstretched arm.

“Keep it down, how many times do I have to tell you that,” she whispered, “not everyone is friendly here Hiraani.”

“Ivalyn please I understand your caution, but I highly doubt someone is going jump us on a flight to Vale, it’s not exactly the most discreet place to kill a person,” Hiraani stated, her ears twitching as she stared at the smaller girl.

“Most people how would kill us aren’t exactly gifted in the brains department,” replied Ivalyn returning a glare of her own.

“And that’s what I’m here for,” stated a new voice, as the third figure of their group to which both girls rolled their eyes, though for different reasons.

“Oh, Cal so thoughtful,” Hiraani stated light sarcasm colored her voice as she shook her head at her friends’ antics. Ivalyn wasn’t having any of it though, her eyes harden into a glare.

“Caliban, I know we only just met, but lose the cavalier attitude, there are people who are willing to go to jail for killing us,” she said, taking satisfaction at his sudden flinch.

“Jeez Ivalyn what’s gotten into you?” Caliban asked, his tail twitched in annoyance.

“Yeah is everything okay?” questioned Hiraani concern coloring her voice. Ivalyn took a deep breath, calming her nerves as she opened her mouth to speak.

“She probably spotted the ex-skinner that’s on this flight,” interrupted a rough voice, as the three launched glares at the final member of their group. A black-clad boy lounged in one of the seats, his wolf ears sticking up, with the leftmost one cocked in their direction. “After all, he wasn’t that hard to spot,” he grumbled as he ignored their glares.

“Oh yeah!? Then what do they look like then?” questioned Caliban as he stepped toward the other boy, tail flicked upward.

“And you know what a skinner looks like?” the wolf faunus asked as he craned his head to stare at the approaching boy, “after all you never even been to Verge before now, much less visited the Heap kitty.” He finished staring pointedly at Caliban, who bristled at the kitty statement and moved forward to rectify the situation. Sadly, Hiraani grabbed his arm, stopping his progress with a glare before sending it back to the other boy.

“Rufous…” she trailed, her voice shifted to a tired tone, “Who is currently setting Ivalyn on edge.”

“Boy light-green hair in a mohawk, dressed like a wannabe bandit, just walked in. Don’t look idiots!” he groused staring at the three, as Caliban and Hiraani fought their initial reactions to turn while Ivalyn slowly pushed herself into Hiraani’s side. The three then maintained their focus on Rufous’s face his eyes slowly moved, tracking the boy as he stalked across the room. Eventually, Rufous’s eyes stopped moving and he relaxed back into his seat. “Alright he’s gone, though I don’t believe he’s gonna try and harvest your parts today or any other day,” he mused.

“And why the fuck not?” bit out Ivalyn, removing herself from Hiraani’s side and stomped toward the boy, her eyes ablaze in anger.

“Well for one, he had no trophies, so never a full skinner, probable just ran with them for protection, two bet you fifty lien he’s going to Beacon like us,” Rufous stated his eyes still closed.

“Um, what the hell is a skinner, by the way?” interrupted Hiraani, as she guided a shocked Ivalyn back toward Caliban, who had now taken up watch on the far door the supposed skinner had gone.

“Humancentric gang, members gain status by killing faunus and taking their features like trophies, one of the few gangs that have a shoot first ordinance on them due to their fanaticism,” he grumbled, “can I get some sleep now.”

“Wait wait wait, why do you think he’s going to Beacon?” Caliban asked, his head swiveled toward Rufous.

“Well kitty, he looks our age, doesn’t seem to be with a gaggle of other skinners, and more importantly, he’s got a ticket with Vale as it’s a destination,” Rufous mused, headless of the two angry individuals now staring at him.

“Thank you Rufous, we’ll leave you be,” Hiraani stated, moving to block both Ivalyn and Caliban from walking toward the wolf faunus. Rufous simply snorted and let loose a yawn prompting Hiraani to usher the other two out and toward the other door. Once through the passageway and into the next room she le tout a sigh. “Honestly how does he remain so calm?” she muttered aloud.

“He went to juvie, his old gang got broken up in a raid,” Ivalyn stated from Hiraani’s right

“Wait why juvie? He couldn’t have been that deep already? Caliban questioned, to which Ivalyn shook her head.

“Oh, it's easy for kids to get in deep, but he’s got a kill mark chain, meaning he’s at least ended one life before now,” she stated, causing both Caliban and Hiraani to stop in shock. Ivalyn stops and looks back at the pair in confusion. “Guys, why did you think I plopped you both down near him when a went to the restroom?”

“Because he was a faunus?” Hiraani stated meekly, now worried at what the real reason was.

“Kind of, but it was mostly because if some pyscho came up, they would at least see him, and most people from Verge know a kill mark when they see one,” Ivalyn finished as the group shuffled into an alcove.

“Most people?” Caliban questioned; his head now sway side to side as he attempted to keep the majority of the passageway within his field of vision.

“Yeah, sometimes you get a stuck-up noble who’s too dumb to think and that’s when the police go raiding, bad times for all,” Ivalyn muttered, unaware of the quick look that passed between Hiraani and Caliban. The pair slowly nodded their heads as they are now very grateful to be out of the confusing mess that is Verge, and on their way to the much safer Vale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry for the wait, moving and training took a lot of time out of my day. Hopefully, I'll be able to adjust and get a normal schedule back. Anyway, hope you'll enjoy the chapter.


	6. Patch's Own

Despite the Grimm’s ability to appear almost anywhere, there were places that their presence was severely limited. One such haven was the isle of Patch, within the Sere Ocean, often viewed by the majority of Vale’s populace as the quintessence of quaintness. However, there were still hallmarks of the advancements in technology on this rustic isle, such as the lone skyport. Its form of metal and glass caused it to stick out from the more modest buildings of Patch’s central town. Inside though, the builders made an attempt to convey some of Patch’s ascetic to visitors, covering the interior with wooded motifs of the picturesque forests that were prevalent on Patch. For the locals, however, the skyport was just another building that kept them connected to the rest of Remnant.

“What is taking her so long?” a girl with short brown hair asked, her exasperated form covered by red cloth and orange armor, her brown eyes had scanned the waiting areas for the fourth time.

“Now now Ali, you know she prone to…dramatic entrances,” answered the boy sitting across from her, his voice muffled by the black cowboy hat that covered his face. The rest of his clothing ranged in the tans and browns, with only his belt and boots sharing his hat’s color.

“Windsor, I appreciate the attempt, but she isn’t exactly known for being late,” continued Ali, her face creased with worry as she gazed toward the entrance of the concourse. This earned her a snort from Windsor, to which she responded with a glare. However, before she could further express her annoyance with him about of noise drew her attention. “Please tell me it’s not our group that caused that,” she groused as she palmed her face in embarrassment. Windsor sat up. Caught his falling hat and stared behind her.

“Sorry Ali, but looks like Roxy is pressing Lis buttons...again,” he stated as he watched the two after mentioned girls continue their scuffle. “Though to be fair it’s just Roxy invading Lis’s personal space,” he continued, which prompted a sigh from his compatriot.

“Look, just keep an eye out for Yang…and tell me if Maylin comes back with the food,” Ali stated, as she marched over to the ensuing argument. As Windsor had said, Roxanna had once again pushed herself into Liseran’s bubble, who as usual tried to shove the purple-haired menace away. This, unfortunately, had the opposite effect as Roxanna continued to press into the white-purple clad girl, and thus the cycle continued. That is until Ali marched up, grabbed Roxanna deposited her two seats away, and plopped herself between the two.

“Aww Alizarin I wasn’t doing much,” moaned Roxanna, using Alizarin’s full first name coupled with her cutesy look to try and sway Alizarin into letting her continue.

“I swear if you fall for her eye trick again Alizarin, I’ll—mph!!” began Liseran only to be stopped by Alizarin’s hand covering her mouth.

“Lis, I swear you yell into my ear one more time and I’ll—oomph!!” Alizarin suddenly founds herself trapped between the two girls as Roxanna pounced on her and Liseran. The resulting mess soon developed into a scuffle, with Alizarin trying to mediate. Sadly, this didn’t last long as several blows from both of the girls caused her to start throwing her own attacks. Windsor merely looked on at the melee, occasionally wincing as blows connected, until a frustrated sigh caused him to turn his head around to see a silver-haired girl, burdened by several bags of McEndy’s food.

“Again, why is it every time, Yang and I aren’t here, those three always find a way to start a fight,” she moaned, depositing some of the plastic bags next to Windsor, who started rummaging through them.

“Well you know that Roxy’s hyper activeness and Lis’s aloofness tend to interact as well as a fox and a hound, Maylin,” he groused, hands finally grasping a burger. “Not to mention Ali’s relatively short fuse when she’s getting hit and it’s no mystery why our group was in detention.”

“You’ll end up in detention, cause you couldn’t smooth talk quick enough, leaving me to get all the work.” Maylin finished as she set down the rest of the bags and began her way toward the growing chaos. “Come on and help me separate them,” she remarked back to Windsor, who groaned but moved to follow her into the maelstrom of blows.

“You know that this is gonna end bad Maylin,” he drawled as he grabbed Roxanna from behind, and dragged her away as Maylin supplanted herself between Liseran and Alizarin, the former attempting to grab the latter. Unfortunately, the two only got pulled in as Windsor was flipped and Maylin took two punches to the face, and once again the brawl resumed. Though it really was just the previous three trying to end each other, Windsor simply defending himself, and Maylin attempting to keep the peace. This melee continued for some time until a slight cough caused them to pause. Five pairs of eyes swiveled and spotted a familiar figure from their time in Signal, the green and brown clad form of Laurel Hewlyer.

“Well it’s good to see that some things never change,” she stated, in the same annoyed tone that she always held when talking to any one of their group. “Do you all even care about how your actions, or do you just follow whatever pops into your heads?”

“Hi Miss Stickbutt, how are you doing today?” Roxanna asked as she ignored her friends’ groans with Laurel only cocking an eyebrow at the familiar nickname.

“First thing it is, ugh well I hope you’ll at least behave, don’t want to see the continuation of your detention record,” she finished before stalking off toward the seats closer to the gate entrance. The rest of the group simply stared after her, until Liseran muttered something.

“Why is that bitch here?”

“You do remember her being number one at Signal right, and that she was very public about being the best huntress there ever was?” Windsor asked, slowly detangling himself from the mess. “Anyway, I’m going to finish my burger, if you’ll want to continue beating each other up well that’s fine by me—”

“Windsor,” Maylin groaned

“No Maylin I’m hungry and I’m gonna eat my burger and then—”

“Wait there’s food?” interpreted Alizarin

“Yes, there’s food you know there is food we sent Maylin to get the food if she’s here then she brought back the food!!” Windsor stated exasperation clearly shown on his face.

“Alright sheesh, someone’s grumpy,” replied Alizarin, who moved away from where she had been grabbling Maylin and Liseran. “Oh, hey Yang,” she stated as she spotted the blonde standing behind the seats with the food bags, munching on one of the burgers.

“Hey Ali, see you guys got started early,” replied Yang as she continued eating, “so I know you’ll are wondering why I’m late,” she asked grin plastered on her face.

“Bumblebee broke.”

“You slept in.”

“Partied too hard.”

“Got lost.”

“Forgot Ruby.”

“Hey no I didn’t do any of that…Maylin how did you know about Ruby?” question Yang as her outrage subsided.

“She’s standing behind you Yang, hi Ruby, how are you?” Maylin asked the younger girl, who poked her head from behind.

“Hi,” she mumbled, but soon let out a squeak as Roxanna vaulted over and landed next to her.

“Well aren’t you still a cutie,” she started before Yang picked her up and deposited her on the other side of the seats.

“Personal space Rox, we’ve been over this,” Yang replied, her earlier enthusiasm now replaced by resignation.

“Hey, Ruby, what are you doing here, shouldn’t you be back at Signal?” question Winsdor as he grabbed his burger and another to hand over to Liseran.

“Hehehe, yeah about that—"

“Ruby’s been accepted into Beacon!” Yang interrupted cheerfully which resulted in several spit-takes and an outburst of questions. Ruby, still not recovered from Roxanna’s sudden appearance was easily overwhelmed as suddenly five people were attempting to ask her about how she got accepted to Beacon so early. Fortunately, Yang was able to get them to back off, sit down, and calmly let Ruby tell her story, as they all gorged themselves on McEndys’ meals. Granted the experience wasn’t exactly the smoothest as interruptions were constant and more than once did another brawl breakout.

“Are your friends always this…violent Yang?” questioned Ruby, only to be greeted by silence, “Yang…Yang?”

“Ah she’s currently dueling Liseran for her last remark about her figure,” Windsor responded as he munched on another burger. “Though this is kind of the norm for us,” he finished before he threw the wrapper into the garbage. Ruby mutely nodded as Alizarin and Maylin attempted to separate the after-mentioned pair, though their success in that endeavor was relatively moot. She suddenly had a slight shiver, as her neck hairs prickled in instinctual fear. She whipped her head around, trying to spot what had spooked her, but only saw the relatively empty hallway that leads to the gate.

“You see someone Ruby,” chimed Roxanna, who placed her head on Ruby’s shoulder, startling her. However, before Ruby could respond, one of the ladies at the counter announced that airship had arrived and boarding would begin. She soon found herself dragged away as Yang, who had disentangled herself away from her earlier mess.

“See you guys on the ship!” she shouted as she ran with Ruby toward the counter waving their tickets toward the agents. Meanwhile, the rest of the group could only stare in shock at the abrupted departure of the two.

“They got Prime Passage…how did they get Prime Passage?!” demanded Alizarin as she watched the two begin boarding.

“Probably their uncle, he does tend to go on extended leave, and he’s always talking about how one place’s alcohol is better than Patch’s brew,” Liseran icily remarked, as she dusted herself off. “Anyway, we should probably get our stuff ready…what now Roxanna?” she asked her irritation clear shown on her face as she stared at the other girl, whose eyes were still fixed on the hallway that Ruby had been looking at,

“Oh, nothing Lissy, just gonna miss home that’s all,” Roxanna stated as she sprung from her seat and made her over to Liseran, who flinched as her space was invaded again. Soon the pair were back at their usual antics, as the rest of the group sighed and attempted to move the growing chaos toward the check-in counter.

Unbeknownst to them, a figure moved from an alcove in the unwatched hallway. For a minute it waited as its eyes tracked its target before it roughly turned around and marched toward the exit. As they stalked through the hallway, causing those in its way to move or collide with the ominous figure, they pulled a scroll from their pockets and spoke into it.

“Nephilim spotted.”


	7. Elevator Music

Sterling Alaric, the second scion to the noble Alaric family, wondered if taking the elevator was worth it. After all the only thing that made an elevator ride worse was when the company was poor, and in this case, a good portion of the people on this ride were of unquestionably poor character.

“So Sterling, that’s not the same sword you used at Grace is it?” asked Cardin Winchester, third scion of the Winchester family, and constant irritant to Sterling at Grace Academy. “Did you have to replace your old one cause it couldn’t handle the stress?” he continued; his voice lathered with mockery. Sterling merely exhaled, his face still stared ahead at the elevator doors as he answered the brute.

“Cardin, you of all people know that nothing lasts forever, after all, you yourself are on your third armor set if I recall correctly, right?” Sterling finished, as he remained unmoved. Cardin growled and stepped to crowd him, along with his ever-present lackeys Sky Lark and Dove Bronzewing. Soon he was surrounded, elevator doors to the front, Cardin, and Dove on his sides with Sky bring up the rear. _Must have hit a sore nerve,_ Sterling thought as he outwardly sighed at the possibility that he would have to actually fight these miscreants. _And it’s not even the first day of classes,_ he mused, fortunately, someone else decided to chime in.

“You know Winchester you’ve never been able to beat him, and your two idiots never had a chance of taking him,” stated the dark cloaked figure that was Dwane Ubel. Sterling, though grateful for the interruption, quietly bemoaned the lack of tack the Ubel had shown. Specifically, the tone he had used, as his humorous take on the situation only infuriated Cardin and his minions.

“A feat you yourself haven’t achieved bastard,” Cardin growled, to which Dwane merely rolled his eyes as he lounged against the back-left corner of the elevator.

“Low hanging fruit Winchester, and honestly I don’t think that even any of the instructors at Grace could beat him and that he just let them win so they could teach without having to deal with the embarrassment of constantly losing to him,” he finished. “Not to mention the fact that Mr. Alaric’s new weapon isn’t just some simple replac—”

“Thank you, Dwane, but I do believe that information is something I should only be giving out, though credit to your astute observation skills…again,” cut in Sterling, as both bemusement and annoyance colored his voice.

“What I’m just saying that it’s pretty obvious…” trailed off Dwane, as Sterling turned around and pierced him with a glare. Meanwhile, Cardin had whipped his head around and attempted to study the dark scabbard that hung at Sterling’s side. However, he gave up on the endeavor as Sterling turned back around and covered the top part with his hand. He instead turned back around, letting loose a frustrated growl.

“Whatever, not like that it matters,” he grumbled as he moved away, his two followers sulked behind him. Sadly, this did little to ease the tension, especially since Cardin turned his gaze toward the remaining occupants in the slow-moving elevator. The three of them were currently clustered around the right corner of the elevator. One, a small girl dressed in purple was animatedly babbling toward a figure dressed in a bright pink coat, who may or may not have been paying attention to what was being said. The final person was another girl, a bit further away from the other two. Clothed in black and white, her amber eyes focused on her book, apparently unaware of Cardin’s approach.

“Brothers preserve us,” mumbled Sterling as he watched the impending disaster unfold behind him.

“Hello girls,” Cardin stated as he drew himself, his companions donned conniving grins as they attempted to look impressive. “The name’s—”

“Cardin Winchester, member of the Winchester family, high members of the Firebrand faction. Most noted for their particular hatred toward all Faunus, shown with various proposals to separate, isolate, and rumors about possible…exterminations,” stated the amber-eyed girl, her tone brought the room to a standstill. The elevator itself went quiet, as its gears slowed, the air was now thick with tension as everyone waited to see what would happen next.

“Why you little—"

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, well that’s one way to say no. HAHAHAHA,” laughed Dwane, which caused Cardin to turn around, eyes blazed with anger as they fixed the laughing Ubel with a glare.

“Why did she have to bring up the Faunus, of all the issues that the Winchesters are embroiled with and she brings up the Faunus,” Sterling mumbled to himself, as he turned to face the raging buffoon.

“You bas—”

“Cardin calm yourself,” he stated, as he matched the larger boy’s glare with one of his own. The two continued to glower at each other, as the elevator finally stopped and opened its doors. Soon the others had moved off the elevator, leaving the pair to finish their contest of wills. With a gruff of annoyance, Cardin broke eye contact and stalked off the elevator.

“You can’t win everything Sterling, one day you’ll regret this,” he stated in disgust as he left.

“Already regretting this day,” murmured Sterling as he followed Cardin off the elevator, “and I fear that this is only the beginning of my troubles.”

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Liliac and her new companion Eres quickly followed the dark-haired girl off the elevator, where Liliac immediately returned to telling her story to Eres.

 “and that’s when I yelled, SMOKE BOMB! and threw the flask on the ground.” She finished; her tone filled with exuberance.

“Didn’t that flask contain explosive elements,” stated Eres’s scroll as it broadcasted their text to the small girl.

“Yeah…but on the bright side I only got a week’s worth of detention,” Liliac stated as she smiled at the memory. “And that gave me enough time to truly master the art of making lighting dust,” she exclaimed, as her smile grew even larger.

“Isn’t manufacturing of dust, unlicensed illegal?” questioned Eres as the pair turned into the massive auditorium that they had been directed toward.

“Ah details, besides it’s only a legal issue if I try and sell it to others,” she replied as she looked around. Only seeing the dark-haired girl from the elevator, Liliac slid closer to Eres and whispered to her new friend. “I can set you up with some dust if you need it for your weapon,” she stated her grin having turned slightly malicious. Eres paused in their stride and cocked an eyebrow at the question.

“Didn’t you—”

“Shush, not so loud, man doesn’t that thing have a volume setting?” Liliac whispered harshly, “and yes I said there would be issues if someone of authority found out I was selling my dust, but there’s no harm in giving some extra supplies to a fellow hunter, right.” Eres merely nodded and also craned their head around to see if anyone had moved closer to the pair. By now the boys from the elevator had arrived, and though some of them glanced their way, no one seemed in the mood to get friendly with anyone again.

“While I appreciate the offer, my weapon doesn’t require dust to function,” Eres's scroll stated, at a considerably lesser volume than before. “But if I ever need dust, I’ll take your offer,” they finished, as Liliac smiled at the possibility.

“Great a new potential test subj— customer that’s what I said,” Liliac stammered as Eres eyed her incredulously, which caused the overexcited girl to smile nervously. “Hey where’s she going?” she asked, in an attempt to dissuade Eres from further questions and pointed at the amber-eyed girl from before.

“Restroom?” answered Eres’s scroll, as Eres moved their eyes from Liliac to the retreating girl’s form. _Somethings off about her_ , they thought as they continued to track the other girl’s movements until she had exited the room. Eres’s eyes lingered at the archway where the girl had exited, eyes narrowed as they tried to figure out whatever was nagging their head about her. However, their focus was shifted back toward Liliac, as she launched into another one of her exploits. _Well, that’s one mystery for later_ , they mused as they settled in to listen and wait for the rest of their new classmates to arrive.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Blake needed fresh air, she needed to clear her head, and so she stalked out of the auditorium. As she walked away from the room and those within, she finally let out a sigh she had been holding in.

“Sometimes Blake you can really get yourself into quite the mess,” she mused to herself, as she slowed her pace and let her thoughts coalesced into a coherent image. Her mind flashed back to when Ozpin had found her in the hotel in one of the outskirt villages of Vale.

“Hello Ms. Belladona,” the grey-haired man had spoken to her when she returned from scouting the area for any of Adam’s cronies. He seemed unperturbed when she had rested her blade on his neck.

“Who are you?” she demanded her tone sharp with annoyance, as her eyes narrowed at the man that had invaded her room.

“I’m Headmaster Ozpin, I represent the Hunter Academy of Vale, perhaps you’ve heard of it,” he stated in a light tone, as he sipped from his mug, regardless of the blade at his neck.

“And why is the Headmaster of Beacon in my room,” she replied angrily tightening her grip on him.

“To offer you an opportunity, Ms. Belladonna, unless of course, you intend to go back to Menagerie.” Ozpin finished, gently setting his mug on the small table, and finally matched her glare with his own eyes.

 _And here I am now_ , Blake mused as she exited onto the landing platform, her thoughts turned toward the present. As she stared across the open landing, her eyes admired the sweeping view of the capital city. She took a seat on a nearby bench, as she watched the groundcrew begin their preparations for the incoming airships. _I’d probably finish a few chapters before orientation_ , she thought, as she sat down and pulled out her book to read.


	8. Luck of the Boom

To say that Lava was annoyed would be an understatement, not surprising considering what he had gone through. First, he had slept through the landing process and thus had gotten stuck behind the Schnee’s baggage being unloaded. That led to him waiting in the aisle for at least twenty minutes, as the even flight security had to help the beleaguered Schnee servants unload their employer’s bags. Then when that was all said and done, he had to contend with the security team himself, specifically getting his bag out of storage.

“I’m sorry sir but I cannot hand over your weapon until it's released by a superior,” stated one of them, an officer by the patch on the shoulder, their eyes fixed on the scroll in their hands rather than acknowledging Lava’s presence. Lava himself sighed in frustration, though he had somewhat expected this to happen, his reputation in Atlas made many hesitant to interact with him in general.

“Look corporal you know just as well as I that the only way an Atlasian military official can impound a hunter’s weapon is if the hunter in question also broke an Atlasian law within the nation, now as I’ve been cleared of all charges before my acceptance to Beacon, what other reason do you have for withholding my gear,” he stated with a raised eyebrow.

“Sir you are not a hunter, therefore you have no right to demand your weapon,” the annoyed corporal stated, still keeping their eyes on the scroll.

“Then I’m a citizen, who has a valid weapons license,” Lava started again, as he pulled out his license card, “and again you have no reason to withhold my stuff!” he announced as he groaned in frustration.

“I’m sorry sir but unless a superior—”

“I’ll give you superior, give the kid his stuff and I’ll make sure you’ll ship gets out of here faster than your snap to attention,” interrupted one of the grounds crew, which prompted an argument between the two. Lava meanwhile groaned as the two men started to yell at each other.

“Great now I’m never gonna get my gear, hopefully, they have a decent forge here,” he mumbled as he moved to find where the orientation was being held. However, before he could get far another member of security slammed his bag into him.

“Headmaster Ozpin just cleared you, have a nice day…fucking menace,” they mumbled before they stalked over to the growing argument.

“Well thanks for the flight too asshole,” Lava muttered as he renewed his walk away, slinging the armored pack onto his back. “At least now I don’t have to—”

“Aaaaaachu-OOM!!” as an explosion echoed across the courtyard and caused Lava to flinch.

“Lords above why now,” he groaned as he spotted the expanding dust cloud, ignoring the glares that the Atlasian ship crew was sending him. He marched over toward the center of the courtyard, spotting the explosion’s aftermath, scorched stones from fire and electricity along with bits of frozen patches indicating that several dust vials had gone critical. This was further reinforced when he saw the soot-covered form of the Schnee heiress, who was currently berating another girl dressed in black and red. “Well let’s go relive her from a braying Schnee,” he muttered, though he watched as another girl, this one clothed in black and white intervene. Of course, considering the sudden increase in Ms. Schnee’s voice the newcomer had decided to fan her anger rather than calm the situation. Luckily, it seemed like Ms. Schnee had enough and stalked away, which prompted the other girl to leave the scene as well, ignoring Ms. Schnee’s original target. Said girl had flopped back to the ground and now was mumbling to herself. Shaking his head Lava moved to offer her assistance in getting up when a sudden shout caused him to turn back around.

“Ruby! Oh, dear are you alright?” asked a blue armored silver-haired girl, who was slowly followed by an unsteady blonde boy. The now identified Ruby pulled herself up and nodded at the incoming person.

“Yea I’m good Maylin, just an accident, and a negative friend again,” Ruby mused glumly as Maylin checked over her.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” stated Lava, as both girls turned to look at him, “most Schnees tend to have at least a foot or two of dust crystals up their asbutts, up to their butts,” he corrected himself as the silver-haired Maylin shot him a glare. “Needless to say, but her being a negative friend probably is the best option,” he continued, “Name’s Lava by the way.”

“Maylin, a pleasure,” replied Maylin still letting her eyes appraise him. Ruby, on the other hand, had shifted behind Maylin and was giving him a hesitant wave. He responded with a small nod of his own, understandable of her hesitance. _After all_ , he thought, _one rarely enjoys talking to others after dealing with a Schnee_. “And you are,” he asked as he turned to face the slightly pale boy. Said boy realizing that he was now the center of attention stood you and spoke.

“Uh hi, the name’s Jaune,” which elicited a sigh from Maylin.

“Aw you’re not doing your intro though,” she remarked to which Jaune gave her a pointed look.

“It hasn’t really gone over well with most people,” he stated, aggravation dripped from his voice, as both Ruby and Lava arched an eyebrow at the argument.

“It’s not that bad, you just need a wider test case,” Maylin stated as she grinned at him, as he glared at her.

“Uuuuh didn’t he barf on sis?” remarked Ruby

“What!!? You barfed on Yang,” cried Maylin as she broke into laughter

“What no…I don’t think so,” stammered Jaune as he began to run through his memories, heedless of the rest of the group.

“Why’d he throw-up on your sister?” Lava asked as he scooted closer to the two girls. To which Ruby only shrugged as Maylin continued to laugh at Jaune’s inability to defend himself against Ruby’s accusation. Eventually, Jaune gave up trying to defend himself and began to move away.

I get motion sick is that really shocking,” he cried sulking off, though Maylin followed him trying to apologies for her outburst, though her constant laughter decreased the validity of her apology. A reluctant Ruby and curious Lava, followed closely, one not wanting the be left alone again, the other wondering where this argument was going. Sadly, for Ruby, she once again was dragged into an argument when she mentioned a potential nickname for the poor boy.

“I’m sorry but Vomit-Boy was the first thing that came to mind,” she apologized, turning her head to hide a quick snigger, while Lava and Maylin let their chuckles sound a bit louder. Jaune glared back at the two before he responded to Ruby.

“Well, what if I call you Craterface—”

“Hey that was an accident,” interrupted Ruby

“Phew that’s a relief,” mumbled Lava, who then flinched as Maylin gave him a questioning stare. Fortunately, her attention was shifted back toward Ruby, when she was displaying her weapon to a rather frightened Jaune.

“Ruby, you’re still using that monstrosity?” Maylin asked, which earned her a glare from Ruby.

“Yes, I am, and if you ever…Uh, you okay?” Ruby asked Lava who was busy admiring her weapon.

“Oh yeah I’m great,” he started eyes still glued to the massive weapon, “just admiring your weapon, I’ve never seen something that…complex,” Lava finished eyes now firmly fixed on the scythe’s blade end.

“Ummm, what is it, exactly?” asked Jaune as he nervously stepped back to stand with Maylin as Lava moved forward to get a better view.

“It’s a customized high caliber sniper scythe,” Ruby stated

“Ah that explains the scope, did a chain forge make this or was it a local smithy?” asked Lava

“Oh, I made it myself, blade, gun and even the magazine box itself,” replied the now bashful as Lava turned toward her, surprise evident on his face.

“That’s amazing I haven’t seen such craftmanship in a weapon, pits most people I know that make their own weapons focusing on utility, often forgetting form is important too.” Lava stated as he leaned back to admire Ruby’s entire aesthetic.

“Thanks,” she mumbled slightly overwhelmed by the praise, “so what are you two armed with?” she asked turning to view both Jaune and Lava.

“Oh, I have this sword,” started Jaune as he pulled his blade out, “and this shield,” he finished as he expanded the scabbard into the said shield.

“Ooo, nice, what do they do?” pressed Ruby

“Uh well um the shield gets smaller so when I um get tired of carrying it I…put it away,” started Jaune, the others tilted their heads in confusion.

“Wouldn’t it still weigh the same though?” Maylin asked to which Jaune meekly nodded too.

“Yea it does,” he finished as he slumped his shoulders in embarrassment.

“Ah don’t worry it’s always a good place to start with something simple on your first weapon design,” Lava remarked as Ruby nodded sagely.

“Yep, I kind of went overboard on mine, but I appreciate when some go for a classic design,” she stated, though Jaune grimaced as she finished talking.

“I didn’t exactly make this, it’s a hand me down from my great-great-grandfather, who used it during the Great War,” he replied solemnly looking at the blade that was older than most of the populace of Remnant itself.

“Well, it's impressive that it’s still intact, hard to make such durable weapons in this day and age,” Lava cut in, amazement flowing through his voice.

“Sounds more like it’s an heirloom than an actual hand me down,” interjected Maylin as she stared at the blade. “A very well used heirloom too,” she remarked staring at the weathering over the blade, despite its edge looking rather sharp.

“So, what about you Lava, I’ve always heard that Atlas trainees have some verrrrry interesting designs,” Ruby remarked as her eyes glazed slightly as she recalled some of the Atlas exclusive weapon magazines she had gotten as a birthday present.

“Uh sure so don’t know how unique it is but meet Ogun 1.3,” Lava stated as he pressed a button on his pack. With smooth precision, the pack depressed in and unfolded to cover his body. Several of the expanding metal plates connected to a pair of slim containers at his waist, which then also started to unfold and encompassed his legs. Eventual the moving plates connected into his armored boots and finished enclosing around his head and hands. Then on his arms, the metal began to expand starting at the elbow, taking the form of inverted bulbous cones. Finally, in front of his face, the metal slid back revealing a dark plane of glass to give him vision.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO—”

“Well we’ve lost Ruby,” Maylin mused as she glanced a Jaune, who was also staring wide-eyed at Lava’s armored form. “Never seen a weapon geek stuck in their head?” she asked as he moved to watch Ruby zip around Lava

“No…not really, and are those—” he stammered as he gestured to rounded ends of Lava’s arms

“Ah good eyes, they are custom forged energizing dust projectors,” Lava interrupted as he noticed Jaune’s gaze.

“Ah what now?”

“Elemental flamethrowers,” remarked Ruby, before she went back to ask about the other types of dust Lava’s suit was capable of using. Jaune meanwhile just appeared even more confused than before. Maylin simply shook her head, as she attempted to hide her giggles. Meeting Jaune’s glare, however, showed she was less than successful.

“Aah don’t be grumpy, besides it’s not like we’re going anywhere…anyone actually knows where we are supposed to be meeting?” she trailed off as worry slowly crept onto her face. Jaune shook his head, as the two weapon nerds shared a puzzled look.

“Maybe there’s a directory nearby?” offered Jaune as the others began to look around for any something they could use as a guide. Fortunately, through backtracking and excessive use of Ruby’s semblance, the group was able to find the main auditorium. There the girls were waved over by a blonde chick, who Maylin informed Lava was Yang. Anyway, as the girls walked off, and Jaune bemoaned their absence, Lava spotted a familiar form amongst the other prospective students. Grimly stalking toward the hulking figure of Limon, who was talking to another large individual. Jaune having nothing better to do tentatively followed the simmering Lava.

“You are a complete ass you know that right,” Lava stated as he slid next to Limon, who jumped slightly at the sudden appearance of his fuming companion.

“Ah Lava, I wasn’t, um this is Yahto—”

“Nice to meet you Yahto, I’m sorry but I’m going to continue to berating my supposed friend. YOU LEFT ME ON THE AIRSHIP BEHIND THE SCHNEE!!” Lava screeched, cutting of Limon, who flinched at the verbal assault. “I HAD TO WAIT FOR THREE HOURS TILL SHE HAD ALL HER STUFF OFFLOADED!”

“Well, you looked relatively…comfortable there,” stammered Limon, wincing at the volume of Lava’s berating.

“Oh, I was comfortable alright, until I found out that you and Lavon had sneaked off, and left me to deal with the security myself,” Lava’s tone turned cold, settling into a glare at the larger boy.  
“You still got here though,” Limon murmured trying to placate the Lava, “and you even made…a…friend,”

“Please tell me that Jaune isn’t doing something stupid?” asked Lava, his eyes darting to the side, afraid of what they might see behind him.

“Well um if he’s the blonde-haired guy that followed you, well he might possibly be trying to hit on the Schnee,” Limon voice carefully, wincing at Jaune’s attempt to impress the heiress. Lava, still not turning around, groaned and mumbled under his breath.

“What do people see in her, alright I’m gonna make sure he doesn’t get impaled by Ms. Uptight, you and I will have words after this initiation ceremony, thing whatever.” He finished as he stalked off to the oblivious blond.

“Is he going to be okay,” Yahto asked as the pair warily watched the fuming Lava stride toward Jaune.

“Ah he should be fine mostly, he’s just annoyed right now…anyway what were we boasting about before,” said Limon, attempting to bring the two back to their previous discussion

“It appears that the initiation is about to begin my friend, we can continue at a better time,” Yahto smiled as Headmaster Ozpin took to the stage. The man’s eyes, though unfocused, seemed to pierce through any person’s soul who met his gaze. _He looks tired_ , Yahto mused in his head, _wonder why?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that took longer than I thought, sorry again for the wait, I hope you'll enjoyed the chapter. I'll see if I can get a better timeframe for release, but I'm doubtful. See you next time


	9. Fated or Chance

For one of the few times in this life, Ozpin let exhaustion shape his face. While he would never falter in displaying himself as an individual who would welcome all, there are times when some truth must be shown. This was one such time, as the multitude of prospective students for this year’s class were about to embark on their first test as hunter candidates. Taking his time, he strode to the front of the stage, his eyes glossed over the assembled kids, many who were not ready for what was to come. _But they will be_ , he thought as he drew their attention with a slight cough into the microphone.

“I’ll keep this brief,” he started “you have traveled here today in search of knowledge.” He paused for a brief moment as the gathered children began to silence their conversations and shift their attention to him. “To hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people.” Another pause, as he watched the amassed group smile in some form or fashion. “But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose…direction” and in an instant, the general mode had soured from confidence to disgruntlement. Ozpin smiled in his head, _good_ , he thought as he continued his speech. “You assume that knowledge will free you, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far.” For a brief moment, he saw some flickers of thought in the eyes of some of the cannier candidates, but most still glared at him in annoyance. “It is up to you to take the first step,” he finished, as again his eyes shifted across the auditorium, observing the children. _Good luck_ , his mind mused as he let Glynda take the stage and directed the crowd toward their temporary sleeping arrangements. _Hopefully, no one will destroy the chandeliers this year_ , he thought as he retired for the night.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Yahto sighed as he finished setting up his borrowed sleeping bag, staring at the small bag.

“You gonna be okay?” asked Roan, whose own setup was markedly better, mostly due to it being his actual sleeping bag.

“Maybe…you know it would have been nice to know that I’d need to pack outdoor sleeping gear,” Yahto mused, still glaring at his offending bag.

“Yeah weird, guess it took longer than they expected for everyone to arrive,” Roan mused. “You want to borrow one of my extra blankets for padding?”

“Yes, how many did you bring?” Yahto asked as Roan dove into his pack and grabbed said blanket.

“Oh, just four, but only two are heavy-duty, the others are more of a spread than an actual blanket,” Roan replied as he tossed a blanket to Yahto, who slid it under the sleeping bag.

“Only four isn’t that a bit light for an expedition as you’ve called this journey so far,” Yahto teased as he tried to get comfortable in the bag now with the additional padding. Roan chuckled at the jab and merely watched his friend struggled to get comfortable. Yahto wriggled around for a minute, ignoring the muffled laughter from his supposed friend. “Alright,” he said sitting up, “I’m going to check and see if I can get some more padding.”

“Mind seeing if they have extra pillows, mine’s been…taken,” Roan asked as the pair glanced at the slumbering form of Roshen. The boy’s dark hair a mess as he laid splayed across his own bag, half of his face sunken into the two pillows and his deactivated scroll covered the other half.

“You know it’s kind of adorable you let him have your pillow,” Yahto cracked, grinning at the glare Roan gave him.

“Just go get your damn blanket, before I decide to give him your pillow,” Roan barked back, as Yahto chuckled at the faux-annoyed expression that donned Roan’s face. Still, he picked up his pace, narrowly avoiding Sodirir’s sleeping setup. As he stumbled away from his group’s area, his back bumped against another person.

“Ah sorry, abo—”

“Watch it you damn beast” snapped the other boy, sneering at Yahto, his eyes locked firmly on the horns on top of Yahto’s head. _Great_ , Yahto mused as he observed the overly hostile boy, who matched him in both height and size. He also had two lackeys trailing him, which brought an added risk of conflict, especially since the three were now sporting rather malicious grins. “Well well,” continued the first boy, “you lost without a shepherd?”

“Ugh, and here I thought that the headmaster was being facetious about wasted energy,” Yahto replied, to which the other boy growled.

“Watch it animal, I can make your life very painful—”

“Oh, I doubt that you could inflict much pain with that mouth of yours,” Yahto cut in while maintaining his neutral expression. Meanwhile, the two cronies stepped forward, their expressions mirrored their leader’s own outraged face, who just looked about ready to explode. For a moment the two merely stared at each other, Yahto with indifference toward the other boy’s after-mentioned rage. “Well if you aren’t going to say anything else, I’ll be go-UGH!!”

“WHAM!”

And in an instance, the cord snapped and Yahto felt the force behind the uppercut his assailant threw traveling through his aura onto his jaw. Simultaneously as his head was tilted back by the blow, he saw a bright blur slam into the two cronies taking them out. Still, that was for later, as right now he had more pressing concerns. He forced his jaw back down, his opponent’s fist still trying to move upward but failing. He took pride in how his attacker’s face slowly moved from success to worry, and finally to panic as Yahto’s eyes burrowed back into the indigo depths of other boy’s eyes.

“As I said, no damage,” Yahto uttered in a cold tone, to which his attacker responded with a gut punch with his other hand. Needless to say, this had no effect either on Yahto, who now had grabbed the boy’s left wrist and right shoulder with his own hands. Next thing the boy realized was that he had been launched as Yahto spun him around, letting go of him so that he could impact his two followers, who had just recovered from the surprise assault from the other faunus. With a mighty crash, the three were sent sprawling onto the floor again, with the newer faunus diving under and stood up next to Yahto.

“Alright fuckers who’s ready foumph,” the new faunus attempted to speak though was quickly shushed as Yahto clapped a hand over their face.

“Are we done?” he asked, glaring at the three idiots that had now again recovered from the ground.

“Why you fucking beas—”

“Cardin!” a voice cried out, as the owner, a black-haired youth with silver highlights made his way over. “You really couldn’t wait to start trouble with a faunus could you?” he asked.

“Sterling…what do you want?” growled the now identified Cardin, as his attention shifted from Yahto to Sterling.

“How about for once you stop your shit and actually keep your cool, or barring that impossibility leave people alone when they don’t conform to your every wish, or is even that too hard for you to accomplish?”

“I’m—” Cardin started as he moved toward Sterling, who cut him off as he moved toward Cardin as well.

“You’ll what, try and fight me Cardin as we’ve established earlier today that would be a terrible idea, so what else, dazzle me with your excessive wordplay?” challenged Sterling. Cardin responded with a huff and a glare, which Sterling matched. In then end Cardin and his group stormed off, taking their setup elsewhere. Sterling turned toward Yahto and the other faunus and addressed them. “So sorry about that, you’d think someone who’s related to council members they’d be able to keep their opinions to themselves, but idiots will be idiots.”

“Well, thanks for the intervention Sterling…”

“Alaric, Sterling Alaric, and a pleasure to meet you two?”

“Yahto Kay,”

“Caliban Sovann,” the two replied, though Caliban was eyeballing Sterling warily.

“Well thank you for the introductions, and…excuse it seems that an old friend of mine is trying to steal my sleeping spot,” Sterling stated as he spied a very familiar girl staring at him on his sleeping bag, and not with a joyful expression on her face. Thus, he darted away leaving the two faunus to themselves.

“So, why’d you stop me, we could have easily taken those bastards out?” asked Caliban, his tail twitched in annoyance as he glared at the larger boy. Yahto merely sighed before he answered his newest acquaintance.

“Because getting into a scrum with a racist isn’t exactly what I want on the first night, and I didn’t come here to fight people, only the Grimm have my full animosity,” he finished.

“And if people want to fight you,” Caliban pointedly asked, to which Yahto groaned

“As you can see, I’m perfectly capable of handling those that wish to do me harm, and while I do appreciate your help, I wasn’t exactly going to be soloing them.”

“And who—”

“He’s referring to me dude,” answered Roan as he walked over, “first rule of buddy fighting, always have a man on the outside to charge in, kind of like what you did. Nice tackle, by the way, you played a sport?”

“Uh yeah, freehand grifball,” Caliban replied a little bit unnerved at Roan’s ability to sneak up on him unaware.

“Oh no way, that’s awesome, what position?” Roan pushed on.

“Uh BOR, though I also ran striker when not on the ball,” Caliban started, though he noticed Yahto was chuckling slightly behind Roan.

“Sweet, yea I never really got it to the sport—”

“Because they wanted you as a damn blocker, and you are terrible at that,” chimed in another person, this time a large pink-haired girl who skidded to a halt behind Yahto. “Heard there was trouble, what happened?” she asked.

“Hey Pix, just some racist highborn brat and his gang thinking they could fight Yahto,” Roan stated, “and this guy came charging,” he continued as he slung an arm around Caliban “in to wreak the cronies while Yahto handled the main bastard.”

“And the reason you’ll aren’t still pummeling their asses are?” probed Pix, eyeing the three boys.

“Sterling Alaric managed to convince them that it wasn’t worth it,” Yahto interjected.

“Huh, that’s…neat…who is he again?” Pix asked, which prompted a groan from Roan.

“Second son of the Alaric Family, current leaders of the Unionist faction of Vale’s council, which also hold the majority again, come on guys I know politics aren’t a hot topic but you have to have some idea of the people who’ll be giving us our Hunter authority if we pass through…whatever we have to pass to graduate.”

“Thank you, Roan, for the input, by the way, Pix where are you and the girls?” Yahto asked as his eyes gazed across the room. “I don’t see them.”

“Oh, their out, but we’re in prime territory right by the girls’ restroom,” Pix responded, her thumb pointed toward the after-mentioned area.

“Well glad we didn’t follow you there,” Yahto stated, which earned him a glare from Pix. “Your gonna tell me there is no problem with a bunch of dudes camping out in front of the girls’ restroom?” he interjected as she moved to speak.

“Okay, I see your point,”

“Um not to intrude or anything but I really shou—”

“Caliban, there you are I was wondering where you dashed off too…what did you do?” asked another tall girl, her faunas heritage on display with her bat ears flicking around.

“Oh, um hi Hiraani, um it's not as bad as it looks, I swear,” stammered Caliban, as Roan finally let go and everyone turned to look at the newcomer.

“Right, look I’m sorry if—”

“Ah don’t sweat it Hiraani was it? Nah your friend was just helping us deal with a few…idiots?” Roan asked looking at Yahto who shrugged.

“Yea idiots is a safe bet, considering they’re probably gonna keep targeting other faunus again even though everyone here is capable of killing someone in some form or fashion…everything alright?” Yahto asked as he saw both Hiraani and Caliban flinch slightly at the mention of killing.

“Uh well, we may already know someone who might have actually—”

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU TWO BEEN!!” a shriek pierced through Caliban’s speech and everyone turned again to catch sight of a small blonde girl who stared angrily at Hiraani and Caliban. The former nervously scratched the back of his head embarrassed with the latter sighed in annoyance.

“Ivalyn we’re fine, Caliban ran off and I went to go get him, we’re finally in Beacon you really need to lay off the paranoia I don’t think anyone is contemplating killing any of us right Caliban,” Hiraani finished sending a glare toward the now nervous lion faunus.

“Yeah…and besides we’ve got some new friends…right?” he questioned looking at the other three, who all looked at each other before finally shrugging.

“Yeah sure friends, names Roan, he’s Yahto and she’s Pix, we also got a few others but they’re out right now so maybe we’ll be able to meet up tomorrow proper at breakfast?” Roan started, though he did begin to reconsider when Ivalyan sent a glare toward him.

“Hmph alright, I guess it's not that bad, though you do realize that—”

“Yes, Ivalyn that the ex-skinner is here, we know. Though for now, I think Rufous was right about him not exactly looking to collect trophies,” responded Caliban as Hiranni facepalmed at Ivayln’s tone.

“Ex-skinner?” Pix asked in confusion, “should I know that one Roan?”

“No and yes, skinners are a humancentric gang, that exclusively target faunus. Though they are currently number one on the council’s organization blacklist.”

“Yeah they do such a wonderful job of keeping them pinned in the Heap,” muttered Ivalyn.

“The Heap?”

“Bottom part of Verge Pix,” answered Roan again, to which Pix hummed an affirmative. Silence reigned for an awkward moment as no one really had anything to say after that.

“Well it’s nice meeting you’ll, hopefully, we will have time to meet up tomorrow,” started Hiraani as she began to walk back toward her group’s spot. Ivalyn quickly turned and followed her, while Caliban lagged behind.

“Great meeting you’ll, um see you tomorrow,” he stammered before picking up the pace to catch up to the girls,”

“Interesting bunch,” mused Roan as he, Pix, and Yahto watched their new acquaintances leave to settle in for the night.

“Yeah, the blondie’s a bit of a spitfire,” Pix stated.

“You can say that again,” Roan said, “so you gals need anything Yahto volunteered to look for extra supplies.”

“Honestly I really don’t want to risk any more issues, everyone seems so high-strung tonight,” Yahto said glaring at Roan, who cracked a grin.

“Ah come on it's not that late—” he stopped as suddenly the lights in the room shut off, plunging everyone into the darkness with only starlight to guide the lucky few. Everyone else, however, faced the issue of running into their fellows, and already more than a few swears where being thrown around as people stumbled onto those already slumbering.

“Well good luck you guys,” whispered Pix who soon began her journey back to her spot. Roan and Yahto glanced at each other and then back into the inky darkness where they assumed their setup was.

“Shit,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, well that was an interesting chapter to work on, hoped you'll enjoyed it. Sadly next one might take a bit longer since I'll be out and about with my family for Thanksgiving, so hopefully, I'll have the groundwork mostly done before the end of the first week in December.


	10. Mistralian Morning

Glaucia never really considered herself an early riser, so when her slumber was disturbed by something other than her own will, she was naturally cranky. She slowly swung her body around, her eyes peered at where the windows were and saw that darkness still reigned. Groaning she shuffled her arm out and palmed around her kit to locate her scroll. It popped open, and as she winced under the bright light, checked the time.

“Pyrrha, whatever you’re doing why is it at five in the morning?” she groused as she turned back around, and watched as Pyrrha, already up, had finished her morning stretches.

“Sorry,” came the standard reply, which caused Glaucia to groan, “but I tend to be an early riser.”

“There’s an early riser and then there’s having your clock busted…alright give me two seconds,”

“Oh, you don’t—”

“Pyrrha if I don’t get up now, I’m not gonna get up till noon,” said Glaucia as she stretched inside her sleeping bag. “Ugh I hate mornings,” she muttered, scrambling to exit the bag and grabbed her gear. The pair then made their way over to the restrooms and moved into the showers. Pyrrha unsurprisingly finished first, though Glaucia was more intent on enjoying the first proper wash with actual warm water since, well since this journey of her began.

“Uh, Glaucia do you need a minute?” Pyrrha asked as she finished drying herself off.

“Yeah, I’m gonna enjoy this, and meet you at wherever breakfast is served, oh this is the life,” came Glaucia’s response, causing Pyrrha to chuckle at her friend’s antics.

“Alright, anything you want me to grab?”

“Yeah if they have any coffee make sure it's Low Mistralian, not any of that overpriced high crap,” Glaucia groused.

“You do realize we don’t pay for it,” Pyrrha stated, as she moved toward the exit.

“yea yea, but the only notable thing about it is it's overpriced,”

“Alright, I’ll save you a seat as well,”

“You’re the best,” Glaucia yelled as she began to actual clean herself, instead of just enjoying the water. “Ah this is the what I’ll want for the rest of my life,” she mused, though she quickly went quiet as more girls started to filter in, many disgruntled at being up so early. Already she could hear some of them sniping at each other. “So much for the quiet morning,” she grumbled, as she attempted to ignore some of the louder outbursts. She powered through the rest of her routine and stalked toward the exit as fast as possible. Hitting the door with a little too much force, she nonetheless took pleasure in the shocked looks it generated. Striding with purpose, she moved across the ballroom, ignoring the few angry stares of those she awoke. Once she reached the main entrance of the room, she noticed a printed sign with the word breakfast and an arrow. _Ancestors I hope that the food is alright…and the norm not the special stuff for your first day_ , she thought, absentmindedly following the signs. Upon entering the dining area, she scanned the relatively empty room for Pyrrha.

“Glaucia over here,” came Pyrrha’s voice, who sat in one of the little alcove tables that were placed along the room's walls. Glaucia slid into a seat and took stock of the abundance of food that Pyrrha had managed to fit on the table.

“You expecting this much trouble today?” she asked, as she began to pile food on her plate from the various selections Pyrrha had placed on their table.

“Well, you never know what they might have us do, so better to have the energy,”

“Right,” Glaucia trailed off as she watched Pyrrha devour an entire pancake stack in a second. “So, any idea on what the team assignments will be like?”

“Not really, though I do know it won’t be like Haven’s purported method,” Pyrrha stated as she started to pile another batch of food on to her plate.

“Yeah pit fighting doesn’t seem to be Vale’s style, hopefully,” Glaucia groused still picking at her original plate.

“I wouldn’t worry too much, Vale tends to prefer a balanced approach to its tests,” Pyrrha said as she finished her second plate and looked start fixing her third.

“Oh spirits please tell me there isn’t gonna be an exam, I hate exams,” Glaucia moaned. “and how much do you plan on eating?”

“Hmm?”

“You know what never mind, just pass the damn bacon…best thing Vale ever came up with,” Glaucia muttered as she finished her coffee and grabbed the proffered meat from Pyrrha. The pair soon finished their meals, stacked their plates, and headed toward the lockers. As they entered, both their scrolls beeped with an update.

“Huh locker thirty-two, where are you Pyrrha?”

“Locker thirty-three,”

“Nice of them too put us together, wonder where that other pair from our flight ended up,”

“I believe right there,” Pyrrha answered as she pointed at the unique pair that had also share their flight to Beacon. The two also seemed to be looking for their own lockers, well the boy Ren was, while Nora, the girl, was busy rambling behind him. The two girls exchanged a nod with Ren, while Nora, still blabbing, gave them an exciting wave as they passed them.

“So, think she tops, or does silent wonder hold the reigns?” Glaucia asked as they cleared the odd duo’s hearing. She smirked as Pyrrha spluttered in confusion and attempted to hide her shock.

“Wha—”

“Oh, come on, even if someone never heard of relationships, they would see that those two have something going on, so naturally one wonders who leads, and my money is on that Nora girl.”

“I-I don’t really know what to make of that,” Pyrrha responded, a slight blush visible on her face.

“Really, because I think some gossip right before…whatever they have planned for us might be a great way to relieve the anxious tension that is simmering around us,” Glaucia quipped, as she stopped at her assigned locker. She looked over at Pyrrha, who had buried herself in her own locker, quietly strapping her armor on. “You’ve never done this?”

“Most of my conversations with my…acquaintances at Sanctum where rarely so open with their thoughts, most were simply trying to boost their own standing by associating themselves with me, to say less about those that thought I was a prize.” Pyrrha finished as she started to check her own weapons. Glaucia bit her lip as she looked on the methodical way Pyrrha went about prepping her equipment, almost mechanical in form.

“Well shit, at least this time you’ve got me around to keep you on your toes,” she responded as she slung an arm around Pyrrha, who responded with a wry grin of her own. However, her face soon grew concerned as Glaucia’s eyes darkened in annoyance.

“What is it?”

“You know those assholes who only thought about your fame, well I think the Schnee is about to make her move, you want me to—”

“No, I’ll hear her out, and see what she wants,” Pyrrha stated, as she cut off Gluacia’s offer, who shrugged and stood back and proceeded to watch the ass-kissing.

“So Pyrrha, have you given any thoughts to whose team you would like to be on?” came the heiress’s question, “I’m sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong well know individual such as yourself.”

“Like you don't care if she doesn’t pick you,” muttered Glaucia as she leaned against the lockers. Though she purposely kept her voice low, it was Pyrrha’s ballgame, after all, the Schnee must have heard something as for a brief moment their eyes meet as Pyrrha moved her head, she was greeted by a glare. Slamming on an exaggerated smile, she simply waved to the smaller girl, who narrowed her eyes, before returning to her own false grin as Pyrrha looked back at her.

“Hmm…I’m not quite sure, I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may,” to which Gluacia snorted at, earning her another glare from the Schnee.

“Well, I was thinking that maybe we could be on a team together.”

“Well that sounds grand,” to which barely a second went by Pyrrha’s response and the Schnee’s own, then did said girl let her true face show as a rather wicked grin appeared on her face. Gluacia rolled her eyes as the Schnee began to chuckle maniacally, and grinned as Pyrrha shook her head in disbelief as the Schnee girl entered her own little world.

“You know who else is great? Me, Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you.” stated the self-identified Jaune Arc as he cut between the two girls, and the look of annoyance that appeared on the Schnee’s face caused Glaucia to grin even wider.

“You again?” asked said Schnee as disgust dripped from her voice, eyes narrowed in veiled anger.

“Nice to mee you Jaune,” cut in Pyrrha, to which Glaucia arched an eyebrow at, though her jaw nearly dropped as Jaune practically shoved Pyrrha out of the way and continued on his attempts to flirt with the Schnee. Glaucia recovered as she enjoyed watching the arrogant chick squirm through a similar attempt at recruitment that she tried on Pyrrha, though Jaune’s at least seemed a bit more upfront with his reasoning, misguided it might be. However, as she moved to finally head out of the lockers, she noticed Pyrrha was still hovering around the conversation.

“Hey, Pyrrha what—”

“Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each so—”

“You don’t say. Well hot-stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH, oh join the winning team, AHAHAHAHAHAHA, well he’s a funny one I’ll give him that,” Glaucia stated still chuckling as Pyrrha and Wiess sighed. Jaune meanwhile let his confusion show as he tried to track the newest addition to the conversation. Fortunately, someone else was ready to explain everything to him.

“Jaune, is it?” Weiss half asked half demanded, “do you have any idea who you are talking too?”

“Not in the slightest, Snow Angel,” came his response, which caused both Weiss and Glaucia to stare at the boy in shock.

“So, the name Pyrrha Nikos doesn’t ring a bell?”

“Nope”

“Does four-time Mistral Regional Champion ring a bell?”

“Never heard of it.”

“Currently named Top Hunter Candidate of the Year!”

“The what?”

“She’s the person on the front of every Pumpkin Pete’s Marshmallow Flakes box!!” exploded Weiss as the others took a nervous step back from the flailing girl.

“Oh, I forgot you got put on a box,” Glaucia remarked to Pyrrha, who sighed as she recalled that particular accolade. Jaune meanwhile gasped as apparently that title had reached wherever he lived.

“That’s you?” the now starry-eyed boy proclaimed, “They only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters.”

“Never realized you got a cartoon,” Glaucia stated softly, grinning when Pyrrha glared at her before turning back toward Jaune with a smile.

“Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn’t very good for you.”

“So, after hearing all this, do you really think you’re in a position to ask her to be on your team?” Wiess cut in as she glared at Jaune.

“As much as a right as you do Icy Pop,” Glaucia mumbled which earned her another Schnee glare as well. Jaune, however, was a little despondent in his reply,

“I…guess not, sorry” he muttered. _Spirits above, it's like she kicked a puppy_ , Glaucia thought, _oh well that’s life_ , she finished as she started to move away again.

“Yo Pyrrhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…” she trailed off as both she and Weiss watched in astonishment as Pyrrha not only gave the boy condolence but actually state he would be a great leader. The boy lit up like he was a grand winner of the Panathenaic Games, but Weiss, apparently a person who dislikes others enjoyments, attempted to cut back in. Funnily enough though, now that Pyrrha had given him hope, Jaune had returned to his more confident tone and was again attempting to steer Weiss back toward joining his team. Unfortunately, he got a bit to close the Schnee for her comfort, and for a brief moment, Glaucia saw a hint of fear flash in Weiss’s eyes which prompted her to move an assist the beleaguered Schnee. Pyrrha was faster though, as a quick cry from Weiss prompted her to pin Jaune to a nearby locker with her spear. Pyrrha predictably threw an apology as well, though the crackling of the active intercoms distorted it a bit. The incoming announcement soon directed those in the lockers to head outside for initiation. Weiss stormed out in silence with Pyrrha, finally moved away from her locker, acknowledging Jaune as she removed her spear from his hoodie. Glaucia meanwhile strode over to the hapless boy and gave him a friendly slap on the shoulder.

“Watch your spacing,” she called back at the confused boy before she jogged to join up with Pyrrha. “So, what was that?”

“What was what?” Pyrrha returned, a confused look on her face.

“I think you’ll make a great leader,” Glaucia said as she exaggerated out the words, all the while she fixed Pyrrha with a questioning stare of her own. Pyrrha ducked her head away though Glaucia once again caught her face reddening again. “So,” she pressed on “Mr. Arc’s gonna be an incredible leader?”

“He does have the potential, he’s remarkably fast at getting his focus on his objectives and semi-reasonable at readdressing a situation based off of his knowledge—”

“Wow wow, Pyr I’m talking about how you like him!”

“Well, he is definitely attractive—”

“Besides that, I’m talking about how you enjoyed it when he was focused on you, pits you blushed when he called you hot-stuff, hot-stuff!!”

“Oh well, it's nice to see someone who just takes me for me,”

“The invincible Pyrrha Nikos’s weakness, sweet dumbasses. So, you gonna mark him for your team?”

“We’ll see where the chips fall,” came her reply as a sly grin appeared on her face.

“hehe sure, I’m just glad we don’t share a type, spirits I’d don’t even want to be in that competition.”

“Oh, and what’s your type?”

“Tall, dark, and nonexistence,” came the practiced reply, which caused both girls to chuckle as they walked outside. The pair quickly made their way down to the cliffs, where several others had taken to standing on metal rectangles. Ms. Goodwitch soon gave them their spots and the pair briefly wish each other good luck. _Like she needs it_ , Glaucia thought, but she shook her head to stop her mind from wondering further. _Let's see a cliff, forest, and nothing else, oh spirits its gonna be a survival task isn’t it_ , she bemoaned, as she waited for the rest of the prospective students to show up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was interesting to write, hope you all enjoyed it. Anyway since the holidays are incoming and I've gots tons of travel, family, and new presents to work out might be a while till the next chapter. I hope you all have a great holiday, and enjoy yourselves, and see you all next time I post :)


	11. The Great Council…of Initiation

Now while Headmaster Ozpin and his second, Professor Goodwitch, went about prepping the prospective students for the trial, the rest of Beacon’s teaching staff readied themselves for the event. Up in one of the many spires of Beacon, a dark room filled with light as the center table activated and displayed a projection of the Emerald Forest, including the cliffside, where fifty dots were grouped together.

“Well the headmaster has certainly rounded a full house this year,” remarked a massive bull faunus, as he scrolled through the list of prospective students on his scroll.

“Yes Matte, and there are some very interesting choices he made this year,” came the silky response from a dark-haired woman, her red eyes burrowing through the profile on her scroll.

“Interesting is hardly the correct word for some, I’d think we should have reigned in Headmaster Ozpin, or at least have pushed for more…appropriate choices to appease the council” stated a green-haired woman who already had several papers splayed next to her.

“Oh, Ann there’s nothing wrong with a little spunk in these young ruffians,” spoke a large man with an oversized mustache covering much of his face.

“Your definition of spunk and mine have vastly different meanings, Peter,” Ann groused, “mine doesn’t include killing people.”

“Oh, please your still bitter that Ozpin replaced one of your submissions,” a white-tailed minx faunus spoke as she smirked. Ann glared at her coworker, but before she could bite back, the door opened and the rest of Beacon’s teaching staff entered.

“Hassomeonestartedthetableohgoodsomeonestartedthetablehavetheylaunchedohtheyhaven’tlaunchedgoodgoodanyissues—”

“Dr. Oobleck please slow yourself for us, and thank you Minne I do love your coffee,” said the minx faunus again as she swung her tail along the mouse faunus’s tail, which caused Minne to stutter in shock at the act.

“Minerva, please stop teasing the poor girl, sorry Minne she gets frisky with people who bring her things she likes,” stated an older peach-haired woman who followed Minne in.

“Aw Thumbelina I have to show my appreciation somehow,” finished Minerva as she winked at Minne, who had busied herself on her scroll.

“Yes, but please save it during your own personal time as I do believe Ann is about to lose it,” Thumbelina motioned toward the seat next to her where Ann was forcefully writing something down. Minerva smiled but mercifully held her tongue.

“Still to go back to Ann’s point the headmaster has overruled several suggestions, he’s only barely complied with council’s deposition for this year’s class, not to mention the other questionable applicants he allowed,” stated a male bulldog faunus, his jowls giving him a perpetual frown.

“I believed Glynda mentioned that Oz wasn’t going to play in straight this year, even with the council on his ass, Donn,” Heka answered, “still it does seem that he may be doing a…what was the term you used Professor Webster?”

“A drafting cycle for his little inner circle he has?” answered the aging woman, who sat next to her son.

“Ugh that probably explains why Crow’s nieces are in this class, though credit to Miss Rose, her scores are quite impressive, and her handling of the most recent Torchwick incident, though rash was adequate for future incidents of that nature,” Heka stated as she browsed the two girls’ profile.

“True and it…Minne did you manage to notify Elm and Harold?” asked Peter as he twirled his mustache

“Yes, sir they said they—”

“WE HAVE ARRIVED, HAVE THEY LAUNCHED YET?!!” came a shout as two older gentlemen burst into the room, slightly seared.

“Ah, Harold how wonderful you could make it,” groused Ann, which prompted the taller of the two men to flinch, the pair both trudged in at a slower pace, their breaths slightly hitched from overexertion to get here, though the shorter balding professor had a noticeable limp in his stride.

“Are you alright Professor Fudge?” asked the older of the Websters, a small frown appeared on her face as she pierced Harold with a glare.

“Oh...I'm fine Emine, just a smaww incident wif Hawowd's watest contwaption, noding majow,” stated Professor Fudge as he sat down.

“Um yes, no Elm is perfectly fineeee…shutting up now,” Harold lamely said as several eyes glared at the impetuous tinkerer. Soon all had their seats at the projector table and began to wait for the initiation trail to start, as they set up the customary bets and marked those candidates that piqued their interest. Already they heard the tail end of Ozpin’s explanation of the trail, along with the questions of one of the candidates.

“That’s Mr. Arc isn’t? still say somethings off about him,” stated Ann as she pulled the said boy's transcript upon her scroll.

“Yep and once again no one has found anything wrong with him, Glynda checked it twice, Ozpin said it was fine, you’ve looked at his documents five times, we’ve all looked at it at least once. Just because he’s not from one of the usual schools don’t—”

“AHAHAHAH, Oh I so do enjoy the launch reactions HA,” interrupted Peter, which earned him a glare from Minerva, but was successful in stopping her and Ann at arguing again. Of course, everyone else got a laugh as well, after all, there’s nothing like several kids swearing/screaming as they are launched into the sky. In the following minutes, they all watched the dots, and the various camera views as the kids rocketed into the sky, well all but one.

“Who’s the one dropping like a rock?” asked Donn as one of the dots almost immediately dove down to the forest floor, before sprinting off deeper into the forest. A few swipes later and the group had a visual of the first lander, the black-clad form of Dwane Ubel hustling through the forest before he disappeared up a tree.

“You know I’m still surprised that the Wallers were fine with their candidate being a bastard,” muttered Heka, “I know that we’re not in the feudal period, but that had to ruffle a few feathers.”

“NormalI’dbeinclidedtoagreebut—”

“Oobleck—”

“DOCTOR!!”

“DR. OOBLECK THEN!! Slow your speech or so help me I’ll make the coffee machines give you water for the entire year,” Harold stated as he glared at the doctor. The room went quiet as the boiling pot between the two geniuses finally exploded.

“You wouldn’t,” came the measured reply from Oobleck, as he glared at his opponent.

“Try me”

“And now we have ouw fiwst paiwing,” interrupted Elm as the cameras caught Dwane, who had finished clambering up one of the taller trees to survey his surroundings, being body-slammed by another person. With the wonders of technology, they were able to playback the video and catch sight of Glaucia Brutus clocking the poor boy with her knees, sending the two into the next tree with a very painful thump.

“Time?” asked Peter.

“not yours dear,” remarked Minerva as she glanced at her scrolls clock, “and not mine either, anyone has anything short of two minutes cause if not Donn wins this pool again,” she finished. With no more responses, other than a few mumbled swears, the lien where exchanged and they continued to watch the initiation. The next few interactions were similar, the children would land meet up and depending on the time the gathered professors would groan or grin, though one was proving to be quite troublesome.

“It’s almost been an hour how has Ms. Aurelia not run into anyone at all?” Matte asked as the lone girl tore through another pack of Beowolves.

“Fate has a funny way of working, or more likely it’s the fact she went the opposite way for about ten minutes before figuring out she was lost,” answered Thumbelina as the after-mentioned girl seemed to be stuck in deciding where to go.

“not to mention the fact that others have also managed to find themselves lost,” muttered Ann as she turned the main screen into a multiview mode, displaying several groups that had wandered away from the ruins that held Glynda’s chess set.

“Are Mr. Arc and Ms. Nikos at the Death Stalker lair?” asked Emine as she watched the pair stare at the warning carved into the side.

“They’re not seriously going to go in…and they went in, brothers damnit well there goes Beacon’s no death streak,” muttered Donn.

“Dear Donn I would discount Ms. Nikos’s abilities, after all, she’s bested most of her challenges with easy, and I’m sure Mr. Arc is more than reasonable to listen to her when she says run,” quipped Minerva. “Minne is there any—”

“Um pawdon de intewwuption,” interrupted Elm, “but whose dat?” he asked as he pointed at a rapidly moving dot on the display table.

“Hm” came Harold’s frown, as he focused the main screen on a section of the forest in front of the charging dot. The screen showed the verdant green of the Emerald Forest in its deceptive peacefulness. However, that lie was broken as the various trees shook and the muffled shrieks of a beast echoed through the speakers. Finally crashing into the view came the large form of a Hart, an elk-like Grimm, with someone’s cape stuck on its antlers. With a shriek, the beast shook its head, as it tried to dislodge the poor soul it had taken. The assembled professors attempted to zoom in and see who exactly was being taken on this merry chase. Fortunately, the beast itself provided the perfect opportunity as one of its head shakes slammed the unfortunate soul’s face straight into the camera.

“My my that’s Sterling Alaric isn’t it, Silver’s second-born,” stated Peter, a slight sense of nervousness creeping into his tone.

“You think the Unionists are going be upset when he gets killed?” asked Harold as he switched the view from the broken camera to one that watched the Grimm, as it ran further into the forest, its unfortunate passenger attempting to fight the massive beast with his fists whenever its thrashing brought him close to its form.

“So as of right now our possible worst-case scenario is the death of Ms. Nikos, and having Mistral’s council on our asses, and Lord Consul Alaric’s second-born being crushed by a rampaging Grimm, thus making the current head of Vale hate us…” trailed Dr. Oobleck, who eyed Harold as he kept his voice measured, though several others could see Oobleck’s annoyance at having to watch his speech. Fortunately, Harold managed to keep his triumph mode in check as he answered.

“While I’m certain the families will be disappointed in their loss, everyone is very aware of the requirements for becoming a hunter are death-defying, and let’s not forget that both of them have partners, look Mr. Alaric’s partner already trying to assist,” he finished, highlighting the fast-moving dot that was behind the Grimm. The figure soon appeared in the camera view, their blonde hair cling to the green trench coat on their body. Slight brown flashes flickered at their feet as they used their aura in an attempt to keep up with the beast and stolen companion.

“Well at least Mr. Sterling’s partner is aware of the danger they’re in, its Odren Atwood?” asked Thumbelina.

“Odran actually, promising dust user to…we actually have a decent number of dust dependent users in this class,” remarked Heka as she looked through the candidates and began sorting out those that had a major reliance on dust.

“Yes, it should be interesting to see which of them will be able to maintain their effectiveness when—”

“KAABOOOM!!”

A loud explosion shook the building, as a substantial fireball blossomed over the Emerald Forest. On the projector table, a large crater of darkness bloomed across the center as sensors and cameras were taken out in the explosion. Several of the professors stood and gazed out the tower’s windows at the dissipating smoke cloud in the distance, while the rest began to sort through the backlog of the now destroyed cameras.

“Well someone has sufficient firepower for larger Grimm,” mulled Peter as he watched the newly formed smoke cloud dissipate into the sky.

“That or Dr. Mulberry left some of his project’s waste out there again,” came the icy retort from Dr. Oobleck.

“Why you—”

“Gentlemen, while your constant banter may be productive for your two’s relation, I do believe that this initiation has just increased in difficulty,” remarked Matte, as he switched the projector from its holographic mode to the seismic sensors, many of which were flashing brightly.

“Oh, the Grimm are swarming toward the ruins…well shit,” mused Minerva, “hopefully Glynda doesn’t lose any of her chess pieces,” which prompted several of them to shiver at the fury Glynda could unleash when she was angry.

“Well at least we will see if there are any idiots amongst this batch,” Ann said, “ though I hope we don’t lose too much and have to draw from the reserve list,” with most of the group nodding their agreement as the returned to the table, and attempted to use the remaining cameras to watch the unfolding drama.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew well, that took longer than expected, probably due to the fact I had to update my old teacher list for Beacon with the canon ones from the CVFY book. Anyway, I'm sure some of you will figure out the inspiration for one of my character, wonder I you'll figure it out for the rest of the staff. I hope you'll enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you'll next time when I post and have a great day.


	12. The First Flames

Russet was not in a good mood. Granted he wasn’t exactly in a bad mood, terrified would probably be the better term, but he wasn’t about to let anyone know that. As he picked himself up from the forest floor, where the resulting shockwave had thrown him, he looked back to see what exactly had happened.

“Fucking sharks, what the fuck happened?” he asked as he stared across the massive crater that was still smoldering.

“I have a hunch, but…never mind we should probably keep moving, that blast is gonna attract the Grimm,” responded his partner, Limon.

“Sure I’m—”

“Uggh that hurt,” interrupted another voice above them. The pair quickly turned and followed the voice toward one of the trees. There amongst the branches was a black-haired youth with silver highlights, hanging upside down.

“You okay?” ventured Limon as he moved forward to assist the other boy. Russet also moved forward but stopped when he noticed the insignia on the boy’s breastplate. The silver crown of the Alaric’s, signifying the boy’s heritage as a noble, or at least very high in the graces of one of Vale’s more prominent families. _Fucking great, not only a noble but a Unionist as well_ , he groused in his head as he watched Limon help the unfortunate soul down.

“Ah, thanks—”

“Name’s Limon and that’s Russet,” said Limon, though he did look back in confusion at Russet when he hmphed angrily at being mentioned.

“Well again you have my thanks, I’m Sterling and though I would enjoy following you two toward the ruins I need to go back and find my partner,” Sterling said, though he paused in his stride when he saw the crater.

“Yea have fun with that, come on Limon,” Russet grumbled and strode in the direction he and Limon had been previously heading. However, before he could get far Limon stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“The ruins aren’t gonna disappear, besides having more people can be useful if that explosion does draw in more Grimm,” Limon stated, which prompted a groan from Russet as he palmed his face.

“Limon for all we know there might be a damn timer on this whole fucking initiation.”

“True but do you really want to hoof it through a Grimm infested forest with only one pair of eyes watching your back or three?”

“Uuuugh…fine, fucking fine we’ll wait for—”

“Oh, look there he is, ODRAN OVER HERE!!,” interrupted Sterling, to which the other two turned and spotted a figure that bolted from the tree line on the other side of the crater.

“That’s not Lava,” remarked Limon, and before Russet could ask who the fuck was Lava, the trees behind the noble’s partner exploded as a herd of Grimm stampeded out of the woods.

“Oh fuck…” trailed off Russet breaking into a sprint to get away from the oncoming horde. However, as he started running away, both Limon and Sterling broke into a run toward Odran and the Grimm horde. “Fucking idiots,” he mumbled as he looked back at the forest for a second, before change his direction to go after his partner.

“What in the pits are you doing!!?” shout Odran, as he caught sight of the three running toward him and the Grimm horde.

“Sword please!!” came Sterling's response, which while not answering Odran’s question at least gave him an idea of what was going on and he tossed Sterling’s scabbard at him. Without breaking his stride Sterling grasped the handle, unsheathed the sword and spun.

“Shit!” Odran screeched as he ducked under the blade and as he rolled back up to glare at his partner and watched as Sterling’s sword sliced cleanly through all four legs of the oncoming Hart. Sterling continued his spin slashing several more Grimm and creating a breach in the horde. Odran however soon refocused his gaze as a snarl to his right alerted him to an oncoming Grimm, its maw open and ready to bite his head off.

“Incoming!!” a voice above him shouted, and Odran watched as the Beowolf was crushed beneath the yellow armored form of another boy. The boy laughed as he slammed one of his hammers into the face of another unfortunate Grimm. “AH HAHA, this is the best, the name’s Limon,” the exuberant boy announced as he shifted his hammers into their gun forms and started firing into his side of the Grimm horde.

“Nice to meet you,” Odran half mumbled as he flicked his wands’ dust containers to Burn, and starts launching fiery bolts at the Grimm that tried to cut behind both Sterling and Limon. Together the three decimated the horde, with those Grimm that followed the initial wave running back into the forest. Odran huffed as he finally caught his breath, leaned back and leaped back as something hard came into contact with his back. As he spun around, he saw a spear planted firmly in the ground, its angle suggested that it fell from the sky. Limon and Sterling had also turned, and Limon whistled as he turned further and complimented his partner.

“Nice throw Russet, what was it?”

“Nevermore,” came Russet’s curt response, as he finally joined the others in the bottom of the crater. “We should probably get a move on Limon,”

“Oh right, hey we’re going to head this way, Russet saw something that resembled the ruins that the headmaster spoke of, so unless you guys have a better direction your welcome to follow,” Limon stated as he pointed back behind him.

“I do believe you are on the right path,” remarked Sterling, however as he said that he tilted his head left. This prompted the rest of the group to follow his gaze as well. In the distance, four figures were sprinting back toward the cliffs, with some Grimm trailing them. “GREETINGS CARDIN! How were the ruins!?” Sterling suddenly shouted, which caused the lead figure of the other group to turn their head, though not stopping their run back toward Beacon. Unsurprisingly Cardin gave Sterling a rather rude gesture, though the newest addition to his posse, a green mohawked individual, responded with some information.

“IT’S ON FUCKING FIRE!!”

“Well looks like it will be interesting,” mused Limon as he started walking after Russet, who had already reached the edge of the crater.

“Very true Limon, well lead on,” Sterling stated as he turned to follow Limon, leaving a very confused Odran alone.

“Are you’ll ignoring the fact that they said it's on fire,” he shouted at them as he moved to catch up with the group.

“Odran we’re in the middle of a crater that I’m sure one of our compatriots caused, so some fire on the ruins is probably the least of our worries,” Sterling answered as the group finally entered the forest again. Odran groaned and grudgingly followed his partner. _Spirts protect me from their optimism_ , he thought as the darkness of the forest surrounded him.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

“You know I’d think it would be more accurate to have said that there was fire around the ruins, rather than them being on fire,” Limon stated.

“True, but it seems more like a defensive tactic than haphazard destruction,” Sterling answered as their group stared across the open field, pockmarked by various carters and impact from weapons of the other candidates. Alongside those marks where various projectiles of the Grimm, massive Nevermore feathers along with various spines from other Grimm beasts. All to highlight the massive fire that blazed around the ruins, keeping most of the sizeable horde that surrounded it out. Occasionally the sound of a gunshot echoed across the air, and a hapless Grimm would disappear in a cloud of smoke.

“Well at least they got someone on watch, surprised the Grimm don’t just charge in,” remarked Russet as he watched a Death Stalker scuttle around the flames.

“Probably watched the first wave go in and not come out,” answered Sterling

“No really,” Russet bit back sarcastically.

“I’m sorry but can you all keep your voices down, after all, I’m sure the Grimm will love to chow down on a group that’s easier for them to access,” sniped Odran, his eyes still closed as he tried to sense who was within the ruins.

“Sure…you sensed whose over there Mr. Mystic?” Russet asked, which caused Odran to open his eyes and glare at him.

“For the last time its simple aura manipulation, no semblance, no magic, and no more distractions!” he growled out loud.

“Too late gentlemen,” quipped Sterling as he watched a few of the Grimm turn their heads toward the group. “Odran can you create a path with your wands?”

“Not permanently, and I’ll probably use up all my Burn dust doing that,”

“What the hell are you thinking?” Russet groused

“Get a barrier up to the fire, jump through and see whose there, otherwise the run is going to be a bit interesting,” Sterling said as he started moving to the end of his tree limb. “So not enough Burn, what about Freeze or Quake?”

“Can’t do it quickly with Quake dust, Freeze can buy us some time, but I can’t promise on how long it lasts,”

“I believe we all only need an extra second or so to get to the fire,”

“And what then dive through a wall of fire and potentially get blasted to oblivion by the other initaites?” Russet cut in again scowling at Sterling.

“Well that is a possibility but I’m counting on Limon’s ability to be loud to alert those inside the ring that we are not Grimm,” said Sterling as he reached the end of his tree branch, and saw several of the Grimm had moved toward them. “Anyway, let us go with the ice walls then, the order is Limon, Odran, you, then me,”

“And who put you—”

“Go,” Sterling interrupted as he jumped out of the tree, followed by Odran and Limon, who had grabbed Russet so he wouldn’t be left behind. The Grimm, now alerted to their movement, charged forward. Odran, who already switched his wands to Freeze dust, fired beams of frozen energy to form the walls to the corridor. Limon started yelling, in an attempt to warn those inside the fire of their approach, though his voice had competition with the vulgar yelling of Russet, who made his displeasure of this plan quite loudly know. Both also were fighting against the howls of the Grimm as the horde began to claw at the icy walls. Fortunately, the walls held the faster Grimm at bay and allowed them to cover a significant portion of the field without being overwhelmed. Soon explosions and gunshots echoed along the outer sides of the walls as those within the ruins became alerted toward the arriving group.

“INCOMING!!!” shouted Limon as he plowed his shoulder right into the fire.

“Wait there's—”

“Shiiit,” interrupted Limon as the ground underneath him disappeared and he found that the earth in front was raised higher than expected. Odran, acting purely on instinct, leaped over Limon’s form and rolled onto the safety of the ruin’s grass. However, he was quickly back up and running toward the prone body of Limon, who had hooked his hammers onto the lip of the raised earth bulwarks that also surrounded the ruins.

“Spirits above get out of there, that’s fucking Inferno dust!” he yelled as he started using his Gust dust to blow the flames away from Limon. Russet and Sterling also launched themselves over their companion, but quickly returned and assisted in pulling Limon out of the pit.

“Phew that was interesting,” Limon remarked as he dusted himself off, “should have figured it wasn’t just the fire keeping the Grimm out,”

“It might have well been, considering that was true Inferno dust someone used,” remarked Odran as he fell back on the ground, exhaustion finally taking its toll.

“Huh was wondering why it felt hotter than usual,” Limon replied, unaware of the still smoldering embers on his cloak

“Yea and you're still on fire you giant oaf,” Russet interceded as he tried to pat out the smoldering embers on Limon’s cloak.

“That’s not gonna work,” another voice cut in, which cause the four to turn around and see their one of their fellow candidates. The closest one, a figure covered in red high-tech armor had moved forward. Though their face was hidden behind a faceplate, Limon easily identified them.

“Lava! How are you, should have known this was your work, so how does one put out this Inferno dust fire?”

“Cut off the material that’s on fire, or completely smother it so that it burns through its fuel supply” came Lava’s tired reply, “and you might want to stop trying to pat it out, cause if it gets stuck to your skin, well let's just say skin grafts are the best case option,” he finished directed at Russet, who quickly stopped and moved away from the firewall.

“Fucking sharks what in the pits is that stuff!!”

“Atlas’s greatest breakthrough in providing effective fire attacks to the field, guaranteed to burn any Grimm to a crisp in an hour…mostly,” Lava responded toward Russet’s question, while Sterling moved and assisted Limon in removing the still-burning pieces of his cloak.

“Damn, so now what?” asked Russet as the group began to move away from the firewall and toward the inner parts of the ruins. There they saw the other candidates that had made it.

“We greet the others and plan for heading back after of course, we secure our relics,” Sterling stated as he caught sight of the pedestals holding various chess pieces. _Interesting_ , he thought as he caught sight of the black king, and for some reason felt drawn to it. _What can you mean_ , his mind said as for a moment he wondered if destiny had something greater than what he planned for himself.


	13. Sweet Victory

Claret groaned as she watched the flames that surrounded the ruins danced in the midday sun.

“What is taking them so long?” she mused aloud, her voice edged with the stress this day had dropped on her. First, it was being unable to fall asleep on the hardwood floor of the auditorium, which caused her morning to be a mess. Then there was this thrice-damned initiation ceremony, she for one wasn’t exactly thrilled to be launched into a Grimm infested forest. Granted the trip through it wasn’t too bad. Even though it did hold an abnormal amount of Grimm, she never felt like she was back home in the Savage Woods, where one always felt the shiver of darkness watching them. On top of that was that she hadn’t caught sight of any of the other candidates until she was forced toward the ruins by coalescing Grimm. There she ran right into a group of three, and her future partner. Not that incident made her day any better as only she could run into the one group of people that managed to bungle the simple way everyone was supposed to get a partner. Turns out they had all miraculously made eye contact with each other within the second they had landed. Anyway, she offered to help assist guarding the massive flame-wall that surrounded the ruins, while they went to collect from the relics. That way the three of them could continue their discussion on who was partnered with who and she could get the poor leftover.

“Hey Claret we’re back!!” shouted Mio, as her body vibrated with barely contained energy. “We’ve got a solution to our little issue.”

“Oh thank you,” relief flooded Claret’s voice as she watched the three approach her, “so who’s the lucky one?”

“All of us!!”

“…Explain now,” came Claret’s icy tone, which caused the boy, Roshen to step back slightly, while the hooded form of Eres moved right behind Mio, and glared at Claret. Claret, however, was about to lose it if the grinning mouth of Mio didn’t stop smiling and give her an answer.

“Oh well there seemed to be pairs of relics like this,” Mio starts, gesturing with two black chess pieces, “and since everyone was to be in pairs Roshen suggested that those with similar relics would be on the same team, after all, most hunters start in teams of four so there isn’t much else to go on, but there is also the idea that we’d get matched to another pair with the opposite color—”

“Alright, alright, that’s good enough, uuugh, alright let’s get moving then, this place is losing its charm,” Claret finished as she began to stalk toward the flames.

“Um, some of the other is going to make a push southward or westward,” pipped up Roshen, who had moved closer to Eres and Mio.

“And thus, drag most of the Grimm with them, we go north, it was relatively empty of Grimm nests and I think most of the larger packs have moved to be here rather than their usual haunts,” Claret said as she stopped in front of the fire.

“That seems…cold,” Eres’s scroll broadcasted in its monotone voice.

“Yeah, but if we run with the herd, there is more of a chance…” Claret stopped as her instincts flared. She crouched down and placed a hand on the ground. Her companions stared in confusion at her and then amongst themselves.

“Um…is something wrong?” asked Roshen as he edged closer to the crouched girl.

“You mean besides the current situation we’re in…yes, yes something is wrong,” she answered, “we need to move now—”

“CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!!” interrupted a loud shriek as the massive Nevermore that had attacked the ruins early had returned, and this time it brought friends. As the aerial horde descended, answering howls from their ground-based kin announced another assault. This time however it wasn’t just Grimm that attempted to burst through the fire, no, instead massive heaps of earth and rock were thrust into the ditch, smothering the flames.

“Fuck alright let’s move it, yo Casty,”

“Roshen!”

“Yeah, whatever, Gust or Soak whichever will work make us a path, I want to at least see what I’m about to run into. Shorty you’re with me to cut a path in case there’s a pack in front, and you…” Claret stopped as she attempted to figure out what Eres could do.

“Cover sides and flanks,” came the electronic response from Eres’s scroll.

“Yeah good idea, alright let’s go, everybody,” Claret as she backed away from the wall of flames to give Roshen room. The smaller boy grumbled, but quickly made his way over, calibrating his gloves toward the Gust cartridges. Once set he blasted a section of the flames, opening a path out of the ruins. Sadly, as he breached the fire, a prowling Beowolf lunged at him.

“Shiit—”

“Shlck” Mio’s blade quickly ended that threat as it pierced upward through the lower jaw and into the beast’s head. Behind him though, he heard a significant thud, and a shadow passed over him. As he craned his head upward, he watched as both Claret and Eres took off, vaulting over the trench and into a pack of Grimm that had gathered to block their escape. Unfortunately for the Grimm, their prey was expecting them. Claret finished her pivot midair, and brought her buster sword down on two Beowolves, bisecting them with ease. As her blade dug into the ground, she unleashed fire from the grooves of the blade, creating a cone of fire that burned more Grimm. Eres managed to stay airborne longer, her gauntlets whirring as they spit several darts out. With uncanny accuracy, these darts punctured many of the Grimms’ eyes, and those not killed where left in agonizing pain. A pain that Mio quickly took advantage of, as she dashed forward and began to decapitate them. Soon the three had cleared a path to the forest, too which all four were bolting through to reach the forest. There Roshen and Eres took to the trees, while Mio followed Claret on the ground. The group continued their run for quite some time, and though they could hear the cries of the Grimm, along with explosions from the other candidates, it seemed that their path was relatively clear.

“So, Claret where are you from?” Mio asked as she and Claret followed their scouting pair ahead of them.

“Is this really the time?” Claret barked back, taking a sharp left as Eres and Roshen swerved to avoid a potential Grimm den.

“No better time like the present, right?”

“When we’re busy trying to stay alive in this thrice-damn forest?” to which Mio merely responded with a smile. “Ugh, fine we get back to the cliffs and then I’ll tell about my sweet little life down by the OH FUCK!!” Claret screamed as she dive-tackled Mio as a massive Grimm barreled at them. The two slammed onto the forest floor as the rolling mass of bone-white plates spun above them. The Grimm sailed over and began to unfold its bulk. Massive clawed forepaws slammed into the forest floor. The beast skidded to a halt, crashing into several trees as it attempted to slow its momentum.

“…Okay, what is that?” Mio asked as she peeked out from under Claret.

“A really big Urs—”

“THWIP” the Grimm forced the pair to dodge as it launched its tongue at them. Claret had to let go of Mio to avoid the beast’s tongue and be able to grab her weapon. Mio thus rolled away from the tongue and Claret, drew her sword as she eyed the Grimm. Said Grimm quickly retracted its tongue, and at that moment Mio dashed forward. In a second she already on the beast, her blade flashing in the light. The Grimm reacted instantly, its tongue withdrawn, and curled itself back up. Thus, her blade skated harmlessly off the beast’s plates. It then began to spin again, forcing her to evade the beast’s tail as it swung around. There the beast lunged at her as she hung midair. Mio now gazed at the massive maw that was coming at her. She braced herself, angling her blade downward. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Claret.

Claret had a dire look on her face as she watched Mio fall toward the approaching maw. Desperate to stop that, she shifted her buster sword into its bident form. She raced forward and started to throw it when a bright pink blur snatched Mio up.

“Incoming,” came a shout, and Claret looked up as Roshen descend from the canopy, both his gloves alight with flames. Eres swooped away with Mio in their arms, and he unleashed a gout of flames into the beast’s jaws. The Grimm screeched in agony but ducked back down allowing the rest of Roshen’s flames to cascade across its armor.

“Yeah didn’t like that did yoURRGK!!” Roshen started taunting the wounded beast and missed its tail as it spun around. The force of the hit sent him flying toward Claret, who sighed. Switching her weapon to her left, she shifted over a bit and caught the poor boy on her right arm.

“You good?”

“Mmhmm,” came the groaned reply.

“Great, you have a minute to recover,” and with that Claret tossed him back into the treetops. As she ignored his surprised scream, she looked back at the situation. The Grimm had now recovered from its spin and was now glaring at Mio and Eres, who had just touched down. Mio’s look of relief soon turned into shock as the beast prepared to launch its tongue again. Claret groaned and pointed her bident at Grimm. With a flick, energy coalesced in between the two tips. Soon she had a roaring fireball, which she then launched at the creature. It flew across the clearing and impacted against the beast’s head, scorching a few plates. However, the attack only succeeded to annoy it further. With a snarl, it turned toward her curling its bulk back up and began to spin at her. Claret, ignoring Mio’s warning cry, shifted her weapon back to its buster sword form. The Grimm, now spinning at full speed, closed the distance in a blink. Claret began to spin, keeping her sword head low. Her aura flashed over her skin as she channeled it through her arms and into her blade. The hulking Grimm bore down on the on shining girl, who now was twirling in a blinding circle as her aura now shone in brilliant gold.

“BAAM!!!” came the echoing explosion, as at the last-minute Claret flipped her blade and slammed the flat part onto the beast’s side. For a split second, she and the monster were locked in a struggle of strength. The rolling Grimm then began pushed her back inch by inch, as she fought to maneuver the beast. In the end, both lost, as Claret’s aura broke in a bright flash, and the beast, dazed from the hit, went careening on to its side.

“Eres pin it!!” shouted the exhausted Claret as she supported herself with her weapon. Eres nodded, dashed over and launched several darts into the beast’s exposed belly. She then flipped over the beast, and when she landed on the other side launched more darts out from her behind her shoulders. These embedded themselves into the ground and various trees, anchoring her. The Grimm attempted to roll back over, but still dazed and now further restrained simply roared out its anger. “Roshen now!!” Claret bellowed as the struggling monster threatened to rip out of its bindings.

“On it,” came the response and again diving down from the trees came Roshen, though this time only one hand crackled with energy, while his other three limbs pulsed with bursts of wind, increasing his velocity. With a loud thunderclap, he impacted the pinned beast, and the resulting dust cloud obscured Claret’s vision. When the dust cleared and she caught sight of the dissolved smoke of the Grimm she finally relaxed.

“Well that was fun,” she mused, “everyone alright?”

“Yeah, I’m good…Eres is fine too,” Roshen stated as he clambered out of the crater he made.

“I can see that, good job Mio,” came Claret’s response

“Huh what did Mio do AHHH!!” screamed Roshen as he turned and came face to face with Beowolf mid-lunge, though it was stopped due to Mio’s blade that had pierced through the back of the beast’s mouth.

“Thanks, Claret,” the smaller girl beamed, at the compliment, though Claret’s accompanying grunt drew the pair’s attention.

“Right…anyway what in fucking shadows was that, cause it wasn’t no Ursa,” she asked, still staring at the crater where the beast was felled.

“I believe they’re called Balintong,” came the electronic response of Eres, who had finished extracting her darts from the ground.

“Neat, alright either of you two know how much further we have to go to get back to the cliffs?” Claret asked Roshen and Eres, who look at each other before Roshen answer.

“Yeah though there might be an issue…” he trailed off as Claret glared at him.

“More Grimm?”

“Eh its more along the lines of a natural obstacle,”

“Such as,” Claret pressed, her annoyance evident in her tone as Roshen danced around the issue.

“There’s a massive crevasse that might extend the entire length of the cliffs,” Roshen finally said, deciding against trying to ease the issue out. Claret’s gaze returned to neutral before finally letting a hand cover her face.

“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh, alright then let's go find this crevasse and see how big it is,” she groused motioning for Roshen and Eres to lead the way.

“It’s was very substantial in size,” chirped Eres’s scroll as they all began to move.

“Of course, it is,” bit back Claret, who was now hoping that at least there was a bed somewhere in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, this took longer than expected, anyway hope you'll enjoyed the first major fight scene. I know that there was some combat in the last twoish chapters, but here I really wanted to focus on a team-up vs a foe rather than just hack, slash, and blast random Grimm. Anyway, I'll finally reach one of my original plot points from 2016ish in the next chapter, though it will probably be some time till that one is finished, mainly due to life deciding I need to do things which is nice. Still hope you'll are enjoying the story so far and for those of you wondering what a Balintong is, it's a dump truck-sized Grimmified pangolin with a few adjustments as is standard with most beast Grimm. Take care and see you'll next time.


End file.
